























0 






o ’ r\ 

^ . 0 ^ 




an'^‘ 

. *»i’' ^v >^ ”■ o r 




O'^ ^ * 0 /■ 'C' 

'% ■<^'' 

' ' t ^ 

o 


v:' 

kV <p. 




\V '/ 


>x\^ 0 ^ C ^ , V « 8 « ° c ® 

A^ <• ^ ^ ^-J 1 *^ ^ ■» ^ .'^ 

' •>'^ ^ ^ ® iF, 

■•'■ 'r-^a^v 'v^"^ ''>'^cs^.' 0 ■ o 




,0 o 






, ^y/ZIu.im ^ \y 

r*. 

, * 0 ^ s ■» " ’ ' / ^ " O^ ^ 

^■- vX- ^ ^ "• 

'r, •■'■'X tj y^^td:!!i!;5^^ " •y S « 



1 o t/' ,A 

k Z 2 

"V'W- 

oX' ‘^' •\^^r'a^ ^ ^ • 

" V I « . s\\^ .- 0 ^ 4. '^r 

0^ffr/7p^ ^ 



N 


« '■) C* /' s oX-’ ^ 

O ^ ^ ^ If 1 ' \^ s, *> <* / 

O^ V " ‘ ^ C- \' X '' 

















I 



’ ’9^ ’ 










I . 


^ ♦’ 



iT.- 






■ir vij 


Vi'? 4 




3^ I- 


•< _ i • 


r T ' 


iJfW^ 

£^: 



t ' 


<J ^3 



£4 - 

.'■ b • 

, ^VJ-' 





-*.\ • 





,/* • • • I ► 4 • 


» » 


/I 





4 '? 


' t 4. - •li^^ • - 







< J| <»v 







.- .•,.«••*' t" »f'' *'£4*- ^ ' 

•'jLi^v*' ■ V ’ :v mLi A 


?■' 


r 


^ - -r 


Jl** 




Clearing the broken Spar. Pa^e 59. 













THE YACHT CLUB SERIES 


I 


OCEAN - BORN ; 

OR, 


THE CRUISE OF THE CLUBS. 


BY 


OLIVER OPTIC, 

\ 

AUTHOR OF “ YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,” “THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES,^ 
“ THE WOODVILEE STORIES,” “ THE STARRY FLAG SERIES,” “ THE 
LAKE SHORE SERIES,” “ THE UPWARD AND ONWARD SERIES,” 

“ THE BOAT CLUB SERIES,” ETC., ETC., ETC., ETC. 


^ ^ ,5 v v. /5, 

", 

WITH THIRTi'lH,ILLi7STR'4?'I0H3^' ' 


’ >> 

) ) 

) > 


} > 
) ) 


) > 
> 

> 



) > 
> 

*> 1 
■> 

> 





> 


) > , ) ) ) 

J ) ) ) 

> 9 ) 

> > ) 5 ) 




I 




) 


BOSTON 

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS 


1903 


/ 



THE LIbRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 


Two Copies Received 

JUN 19 1903 


CopyfiK*" tntfy 



CKy XXc. No, 




COPY B. 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 
WILLIAM T. ADAMS, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

Copyright, 1903, by Alice Adams Kussbll. 


Ocean-Born. 



C C ‘ t , € < 

• C ' < c * « < < 

<(< cc< c< 
< c c < * < < < 


t t < ( « t t « 

t c < ' 

1 c « < ^ t 

< 1 <. *■ 

< < « < « <’ 



C < c ^ < 
€ 

« < C 

c * 

C € C « 







t . € < , < 




TO 

MY YOUNG FRIEND 

LEE SHEPARD DILLINGHAM LEAVITT, 

OF HAMPTON, N. II., 

For /its own sa/te, as well as for that of the triplet of honored 
names he bears, besides his oivn, 

lliinfi U ^fi!rtwn«Uls ^<ditak4. 



PREFACE. 


Ocean-Born is the sixth and last volume of The Yacht Club 
Series, and, following the plan of its predecessors in the series, 
the author has made it an independent story, having no neces- 
sary connection with the preceding books of the series. Per- 
haps the incidents are somewhat more romantic than those of 
the other volumes, but the author thinks they are not very im- 
probable, or extravagant, though they do not often occur in the 
experience of real life. They would hardly excite the interest 
of the reader if they often happened in his daily life. A rev- 
erend and distinguished gentlemen, himself an author of reputa- 
tion and character, has said that there are only about halt a 
dozen different plots used by writers of fiction. • Doubtless there 
are only about this number of elements in all the plots ; but by 
the arithmetic of permutations, even six would make a very coi - 
siderable number of stories. Probably this story is one of this 
vast combinations, for it is hardly possible to add a new element 
to the material for story writing, any more than it would be to 
add a new element to the chemical ingredients of nature. 

Though the hero sails on the ocean in a steam yacht, he is a 
young man of high aims and noble purposes. His character is 

5 


6 


PREFACE. 


worthy the respect and imitation of the reader. Both the Yachtl 
Club and the Dorcas Club are introduced in this story, in order 
that in this, the last volume of the series, “ the conclusion of 
the whole matter ’* may be properly reached. 

Thanking his many and partial readers for the favor they have 
• extended to this stor}’^, the author hopes that this book and its 
companions in the same box will contribute to their moral eleva- 
tion, as well as to their pleasure and amusement. 

Towerhouse, Boston, 

March, 12, 1875. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Ocean-Born, . . . . 11 

CHAPTER IL 

The Dismasted Sloop, .... 31 

CHAPTER III. 

What Happened to the Sea Foam, . . 50 

CHAPTER IV. 

Bounding Billow Ben, . . . ,70 

CHAPTER V. 

The Lost Child, ...... 90 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Long-Lost, ... . . IIO 

7 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Mr. McGusher’s Bad Memory, . . . 129 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Grand Review, ..... 150 

CHAPTER IX. 

McGusher versus Lunder, . . . 169 

CHAPTER X 

The Shadow, 189 

CHAPTER XI. 

Two Important Letters, . . . 208 

CHAPTER XII. 

Up the Penobscot, ..... 228 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Clubs at Port Point, . . . 24*7 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Complimentary Dinner, . . . 266 

CHAPTER XV. 

Captain Bilder^s Visitor, .... 286 

CHAPTER XVI 

Mr. McGusher in Trouble, . . . 305 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

The Mystery Deepens, 

CHAPTER 

Madam Brandon^s Story, 


XVII. 

XVIII. 


* . » 

I V 






r 


« 

1 


9 

i • 


A -* 


* 


« 







»< 






» • 





). 


« 




« 



A • 


X 


t 

4 




» 


** 



% 


I 





4 


« 


i 



OCEAN-BOEN: 


OR, 

THE CRUISE OP THE CLUBS. 


CHAPTER I. 


THE OCEAN-BORN. 


XXTHAT do you make it, Neil?” 

VV “Longitude 69°, 48', 32"; latitude, 
43°, 9', 55".” 


Neil Brandon, the captain of the steam -yacht, 
Ocean-Born, a young man of eighteen, was seated 
at a table in the forward cabin. He had just 
completed his calculations for latitude and longi- 
tude, and obtained the result announced to 
Berry Owen, the mate, who was at the wheel 
in the pilot-house, from which a door opened 
into the cabin. The captain was now working 


11 


12 


OCEAN-EORN. 


a parallel ruler on a chart of the eastern coast, 
spread out before him. 

“What’s the course?” asked the pilot. 

“ Hold on a minute till I get the variation,” 
replied Neil Brandon. “I have it now: north- 
north-east, half north.” 

“ North-north-east, half north,” repeated Berry 
Owen, looking into the binnacle in front of the 
wheel, and then shifting the helm to the course 
given out. 

“We have done first rate; our last day’s run 
is two hundred and seventeen miles, which is 
an average of nine knots an hour,” added the 
captain. 

“ That’s splendid, considering the heavy sea 
we have had. But where are we, any how, 
Neil?” 

“ Let’s see,” answered the young navigator, 
as he ran his dividers over the chart ; “ Cape 
Elizabeth bears about north-west, twenty-eight 
sea miles ; Bald Head, a little west of north, 
thirty miles ; Manhegan Light, which we are 
running for, is about thirty-eight miles. We 
shall fetch it about half past four.” 

“ Der dinner ist ready,” said a young man 


OCEAN-BORN. 


13 


with a German face, who had been preparing 
the after end of the table for the noonday meal. 
“But I dinks der roast beef ist boiled zoo 
mooch.” 

“ What makes you think so, Karl ? ” asked 
the captain, as he seated himself at the head 
of the table. 

“ Because he looks so black as der gook his- 
self ; and I dinks der bodadoes ist zoo rare.” 

“That is a matter of opinion on your part,” 
added the captain. 

“Was is dat?” asked Karl, rubbing his head, 
whereon the hair had been shaved down as 
close to the scalp as shears could do the job, 
though what was left of it stood up as straight 
as so many shoe-pegs. 

“A matter of opinion, I say.” 

“ A blatter of inious ? I brings all der blat- 
ters as der gook tells me zoo bring.” 

“Did you call the engineer?” asked the cap- 
tain. 

“ No ; I calls der captain.” 

“ Call Gerald Roach.” 

“I calls him. But de inions?” 

“ See here, Karl Schnaffer ; you must not 


14 


OCEAN-BORN. 


learn English of the cook : onions, not inions, 

“ Onions,” repeated Karl, pronouncing the word 
very well. 

“ I don’t want any onions ; I seldom eat them, 
and never when I am going on shore within 
twenty-four hours.” 

“What for you says a blatter of onions?” 

“ I didn’t say so. I said a matter of opinion,” 
laughed the captain. “ Call Gerald.” 

“ A madder of obinion ! I don’t know. I 
vill zee as der gook has any,” added Karl, shak- 
ing his head. 

“ Go along ! but call Gerald and Ben first.” 

Things appeared to be entirely democratic on 
board of the Ocean-Born, for Ben was the deck- 
hand. Presently he appeared, and soon after, 
Gerald Roach, the engineer, entered the cabin. 

“ Der gook says he don’t petter hab no mad- 
der of obinion do-day;” said Karl, entering the 
cabin. “ He hab plenty in de ice-house ; but he 
don’t dink he gooks none do-day.” 

“ All right ; we will have it for supper,” re- 
plied the captain. “ Sit down ; eat your dinner, 
Karl, and don’t wear out your brains with one 
effort.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


15 


Karl seated himself. Just at that moment the 
steam yacht rolled heavily, and the three ribs 
of roast beef slid out of the platter into the 
plate of Ben Lunder, the deck-hand ; the guard 
on the edge of the table prevented it from 
going into his lap. 

“I’ll thank you for that roast beef, Ben,” 
said Captain Brandon, who was flourishing the 
carving-knife and steel ; “ that is, if you don’t 
want it all yourself,” 

“ I’m hungr}", captain ; and this piece is no 
more than a pattern for me,” replied Ben, 
thrusting his fork into the beef to keep it from 
jumping into his lap. “ However, I can’t eat 
it whole, and you may cut it up.” 

The deck-hand returned the ribs to the plat- 
ter, and the captain proceeded to carve it. 
Contrary to the prediction of Karl, the red 
juices flowed from it, and the slices came off 
rare and tempting. 

“ I hope we shall be able to fill you up, Ben, 
before we return to Philadelphia,” said the 
captain. 

“I don’t think you will, for this life on the 
rolling deep makes a vacuum in my stomach 


16 


OCEAN-BORN. 


faster than I can fill it. By the way, Neil, the 
perfection of the art of carving in New York is 
to cut roast beef as thin as tissue paper. Don’t 
be too artistic. Half an inch thick for hungry 
fellows is about the guage,” continued Ben. 
“ Creation ! how this tub rolls ! ” 

“Don’t you call the Ocean-Born a tub, Ben: 
it’s a personal insult,” interposed the captain. 

“ I take it all back ; but she makes the soap- 
suds fly like a squall in the wash-house on Mon- 
day morning,” added Ben, as a cloud of spray 
dashed in at the open door of the cabin. 

“Shut that weather door, Ben,” said Captain 
Brandon. 

The deck-hand rushed to the lee door, which 
happened to be behind him. 

‘ Not that ? ” exclaimed the captain ; “ that 
isn’t the weather door.” 

“ The weather door ! I don’t know w’ether 
that’s the weather door or not ; but it’s pretty 
rough weather out of either door.” 

“ The port door ; the door on the port side.” 

“Exactly so ; but you told me this very iden- 
tical door was the weather door yesterday ; and 
things are not what they seem,” pleaded Ben. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


17 


“ But the wind was south-east yesterday.” 

“ Writ in sand are all nautical terms,” added 
the deck-hand, as he closed the port door : 
“ one day a word means one thing, the next 
day quite a different thing. I shall never 
learn.”' 

For a time silenee pervaded, for the business 
of the moment was all-absorbing ; but after a 
time, when Ben had devoured three slices of 
beef, used up four potatoes, and gnawed as 
many ears of green corn, even he began to 
manifest a sense of weariness. 

“Captain Brandon, I regret that I can do no 
more,” said he. “ My will is strong, but the 
flesh is weak.” 

“Do you refer to the flesh you have eaten, 
Ben ? ” asked the captain. 

“ No ; to my body corporate, which is too full 
for utterance.” 

“ In union there is strength ; and, having 
united so many potatoes, slices of beef, slices of 
bread, and ears of corn within that body corpo- 
rate, it ought to be strong.” 

“ Then my strength is weakness, for I can 
eat no more. I am aweary. Captain Brandon. 

2 


18 


OCEAN-BORN. 


The Ocean-Born rolls fearfully, and thus inter- 
feres with my laziness. Shall we ever cease to 
roll ? I lie down in the sun, and the briny 
waves roll over me. I lie down in my downy 
bunk in the forecastle, and I roll out on the 
floor. I went out on the mainto’-gallant bob- 
stay this morning, to adjust the mizzen royal 
jib-topsail downhaul, drenching my skysail boom, 
and putting out both of my dead-eyes. Shall 
we ever cease to roll, captain ? ” 

“ Arc you seasick, Ben ? ” 

“ After that dinner ? ” laughed the engineer. 
“Not seasick ; no, not seasick ; but the rolling 
interferes with my animal comfort, my dolce far 
niente. Can’t you make her go along smoothly, 
great commander of the Ocean-Born? ” 

“ Perhaps I can : I’ll try, Ben. But I don’t 
think she rolls as heavily as she did at daylight 
this morning.” 

“At daylight this morning! Can I ever for- 
get it ? As I lay in my downy bunk, thinking 
of the weary hours that must elapse before 
breakfast time, now bumping against the bunk- 
board, now against the side of the gallant 
steamer, I suddenly found myself sprawling upon 


OCEAN-BORN. 


19 


my stomach on the ceiling of the forecastle. 
Can you explain that, Mr. Commander of the 
Ocean-Born ? ” 

“ I cannot.” 

‘‘ Inversion, in rhetoric, is a trick by which 
the spouter makes the argument of an opponent 
tell on his side. My opponent was the stormy 
ocean. But in a moment more I was right side 
up ; that’s when I shifted the argument to my 
side.” 

“ What do you mean, Ben ? ” 

“ Only that the steamer rolled clear over, just 
as my dog does when I tell him to do it.” 

“Very good, Mr. Lunder!” exclaimed the 
engineer. 

“ Don’t you believe it ? I found a kink in 
the mainto’ -gallant quarter-deck which can be 
explained in no other way. The backto’ -gallant 
mainstay had a twist in it, and the mizzen-royal 
smoke-stack was crusted with salt enough to 
pickle a whole crew of fresh- water sailors. O, 
I know she rolled clear over ! Besides, my 
trousers were fearfully mixed when I turned 
out, or rolled out, for the starboard leg was in 
the larboard trousers-leg, and the larboard leg 


20 


OCEAN-BORN. 


in the starboard trousers-leg. In other, but less 
classic, terms, they were on hind side afore. 
Shall we ever cease to roll. Grand Mogul of the 
Ocean-Born ? ” 

‘‘ In the cabin, there ! ” shouted Berry Owen 
from the pilot-house ; “I beg to remind you 
tjiat I haven’t had my dinner yet ; and it’s two 
bells in the afternoon watch.” 

That’s the way to put it ! Two bells in the 
afternoon watch ! I wonder what time it is ! 
One o’clock. And I hope by fourteen bells in 
the evening watch this gallant steamer will 
cease to roll,” added Ben, as he consulted his 
watch. . 

“ It’s too bad to keep Berry waiting so long 
for his dinner,” said the captain. 

“ Better he than I. Shall I take the wheel ? ” 
asked Ben. 

“ Take the wheel ! What will you do with 
it?” 

“ Get up a revolution.” 

“ I am afraid you would roll her over again, 
and get your trousers snarled up once more. 
No, Ben; go below, and turn in.” 

“ Turn over, you mean.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


21 


Captain Brandon hastened to the wheel-house 
to relieve Berry Owen. 

“ North-north-east, half north,” said Berry, 
as he relinquished the helm. 

“ North-north-east, half north,” repeated Neil, 
as he took the wheel. 

The roast beef had been sent to the galley to 
he kept hot, as soon as the first course at the 
captain’s dinner was finished. It was now re- 
turned, with fresh supplies of vegetables, for the 
mate’s dinner, as it was called ; and Martin 
Roach, the fireman, relieved at the engine by 
his brother, dined with him. The yacht con- 
tinued to roll very heavily, and Ben Lunder 
could find no rest. He sat down in the pilot- 
house ; he lay down in the cabin ; he stretched 
himself on the hurricane deck ; he leaned against 
the foremast, for the yacht was schooner-rigged ; 
he spread himself out on the divan in the after- 
cabin ; but still he rolled over, was jerked off 
his feet, pitched into the scuppers, and tumbled 
off his resting-place. The water washed the 
deck, and half drowned him. In the forecastle, 
the dashing sea, beating against the bow and 
side of the vessel, made a noise like the ma- 


22 


. OCEAN-BORN. 


cliinery of a cotton factory. When he had fin- 
ished his dinner, the mate returned to the pilot- 
house. 

“ All hands on deck ! ” shouted Captain Bran- 
don. “We will try to take some of the roll 
out of her.” 

“ I am a believer in that doctrine ; but I don’t 
see how it can be done,” added Ben. 

“ On deck, and I’ll show you,” replied Neil. 

All hands, except the mate and the engineer, 
mounted the hurricane deck, where the wind was 
fresh enough to take them off their feet. 

“ Off Avith the stops of the foresail ! ” con- 
tinued the captain. 

“ The stops ! Here am I, captain ; but I stop 
to be told what the stops are,” said Ben, jam- 
ming his hat down over his eyes, to prevent it 
from being carried away by the fresh breeze. 

But the stops were all removed before Ben 
could learn what they were. The sheet was 
made ready. 

“ Now, stand by the sheet, Ben,” continued 
the captain. 

“ That’s just what I’m doing,” replied the 
deck-hand. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


23 


“Catch hold of it!” 

Ben seized the sail. 

“ That isn’t the sheet, you lubber I ” shouted 
Neil. 

“ I should say not. It’s a pretty rough sheet, 
and I shouldn’t care to sleep between a couple 
of such sheets.” 

“ This rope is the sheet,” added the captain, 
laying hold of it himself. 

“Worse and worse! A rope sheet! I’m in 
despair.” 

“Man the halyards! ” 

“Which — the foreto’-mizzen or the mainto’- 
backstay halyards ? ” 

“ Here you are, Ben ! ” called Martin Roach. 

“ Here I am, but I am unmanned, and don’t 
know how to man the halyards.” 

“You take the throat with Karl, and I will 
take the peak.” 

“ Shall I take Karl by the throat ? ” 

“No; take this rope, which is the throat- 
halyard,” explained Martin, as he put the line 
into the hands of Ben and Karl. 

“I can pull die ropes so veil as never vas,” 
said Karl. 


24 


OCEAN* BORN. 


“ Heave ahead, my hearty, then. This is the 
throat-halyard : choke him ! ” shouted Ben. 

“ Steady ! ” cried the captain. 

“ Steady as a judge : haven’t drank a drop 
to-day,” said Ben. 

The wind was on the beam, and very fresh, 
and, of course, it was quite impossible to hoist 
and trim the sail, while the steamer was going 
ahead full speed on this course. 

“ Ben, ask Berry to luff her up,” shouted 
Neil. 

“ What, ho ! In the pilot-house ! Berry 
Owen ! ” yelled the deck-hand. 

“ On deck ! ” replied the mate, looking out 
through the low windows upon the hurricane 
deck. 

“ Stuff her up ! ” screamed Ben ; and the noise 
of the threshing sail compelled him to speak 
loud enough to be heard above it. 

“ Stuff her up ? ” queried Berry. 

“ No, no ; luff her up,” added Martin Roach. 

“Luff! I thought he said stuff her up; and 
nothing is too strange to be done at sea,” 
laughed Ben. 

The pilot put his helm down, and presently 


OCEAN-BORN. 


•25 

the steamer pointed her nose into the wind's 
eye. 

“Now, lively on your halyards!” said Neil, 
and, no longer needed at the sheet, he took 
liold with the deck-hand and steward. The sail 
was set, and the captain seized the sheet again, 
catching a turn over the cleat. 

“Ben, ask Berry to lay her course again,” 
said he. 

“ Belay your horse again, Mr. Owen I ” said 
Ben to the mate. 

“ What ? ” asked the puzzled helmsman. 

“ Belay your horse. I don’t know what it 
means ; but that’s what the captain says,” added 
Ben, stooping down at the after windows of the 
pilot-house. “ I suppose you are to hitch the 
animal, and give him his oats.” 

“ I don’t understand you,” answered Berry, 
impatiently. 

“ O, well, if you don’t, I give up the conun- 
drum.” 

“ Lay her course I ” cried the captain. 

“ Lay her course I I understand that,” said 
the helmsman. 

As the steamer fell off, Neil trimmed the fore- 


26 


OCEAN-BORN. 


sail, and then belayed the sheet. The mainsail 
Avas set by the same process. The steamer 
heeled Avell over under the influence of the fresh 
breeze, and her motion was much steadier than 
before. Karl went below to wash the dishes ; 
Ben stretched himself on the lee divan in the 
forward cabin, and the captain remained on 
deck to watch the sails. The Ocean-Born tore 
through the water at a furious rate, the sails 
adding two or three knots to her speed. 

Suddenly, as the captain w'as looking up to 
windward, a little cloud of smoke rose, appar- 
ently from the water, and an instant later the 
sound of a gun came to his ears. 

“ What was that. Berry ? ” he asked, going 
to the pilot-house. 

“A gun ;'lDut I see no vessel in that direc- 
tion.” 

“What can it be?” 

“ I don’t know.” 

“Pass up my glass, if you please.” 

The spy-glass was handed up through the 
window, and Neil proceeded to make a minute 
examination of the surface of the ocean. The 
steamer had been out of sight of land all day. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


2T 


though it was now about time, if the calcula- 
tions made were correct, to make out Seguin 
Light to the northward. While Neil was en- 
gaged in his survey, another pulf of smoke, fol- 
lowed by the report of a gun, guided his exami- 
nation, and he discovered something white. The 
gun was fired several times. 

“ Do you make it out, Neil ? ” asked Berry. 

I see something white on the water. There 
is no mast or sail ; but it must be a boat. 
Somebody has been blown off from the shore,” 
replied the captain. 

“Somebody in distress — isn’t it?” 

“I suppose so; though I don’t see how a 
boat without a mast should happen to have on 
board a gun big enough to make all that noise. 
There’s another gun. They are not firing for 
the fun of it.” 

“ She must be in distress, whatever it is.” 

“ There goes a signal — a red cloth on a pole.” 
continued the captain, taking another look with 
his glass. 

“We must run down to her,” said Berry. 

“ Certainly ; but she is dead to windward of 
us, and we must take in sail. Send all hands 
on deck ! ” 


28 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


It was an easier job to take in the fore and 
main sails than it had been to set them. The 
course of the steamer was changed and the 
firing on board of the stranger ceased. 

“ What’s the matter now, high and mighty 
commander of the Ocean-Born ? ” asked Ben, 
when the sails were secured, for thus far he 
had had no time to ask questions. 

“ There’s a boat in distress directly ahead of | 
us, Ben,” replied Neil. “ Didn’t you hear the 
guns she fired ? ” j 

“Not a gun : I was fast asleep in the for- 
ward cabin, digesting my dinner, which I found 
to be a heavier operation than usual to-day.” ; 

“ I should think you would, after the quan- 
tity of beef and green corn you ate.” ! 

“ But who is in distress, captain ? ” | 

“ I don’t know : I haven’t been introduced to ) 
him or them yet.” j 

“Are they really in distress?” J 

“ If they are not, they ought to be sunk for 
compelling us to go out of our course. I think 
it must be some boat blown off by the fresh 
breeze.” 

“ How delightful ! ” exclaimed Ben. “ A real 


OCEAN-BORN. 


29 


vessel or boat in distress, shooting cannon on 
the boundless ocean ! What a sensation ! I 
shall write a nautical romance when I return to 
Philadelphia, full of bobstays, jib-booms, and 
fo’peaks. A young lady shall be rescued from 
the awful wreck, hoisted into the steamer by 
the foreto’-backstay, and all that sort of tiling. 
I shall buy a ton of salt to picket the romance 
in.” 

“ I can see her now without the glass,” said 
the captain. 

“Do you see the lady, young and pretty.^*’ 

“ No ; but I see that she is not a row-boat, 
as I supposed. She is a yacht of thirty feet or 
so long. Her masts have been carried away, and 
she is rolling in the trough of the sea. If there 
is any heroine on board of her, she must be sea- 
sick in the cabin, and not quite in a situation 
to take her place on your pages.” 

The Ocean-Born continued to approach the 
stranger until she could be clearly made out, as 
she rose on the heavy waves. 

“ She is a dismasted sloop. There are four 
young fellows on her deck,” said Captain Bran- 
don. 


30 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ What a cheerful sight the steamer must be 
to them ! ” added Ben. 

“ As true as you live, Ben, there is a lady on 
board of her ! ” exclaimed Neil. 

“ I knew it ! She is clinging to the mainto’- 
gallant hatchway — isn’t she ? ” 

‘‘ There’s another lady.” 

‘‘ Two ! That spoils the romance, and I give 
it .up.” 

In a few moments more the steamer was 
within hailing distance of the wreck. 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


31 


CHAPTER II. 

THE DISMASTED SLOOP. 

F course no one knows better than the 



V_>/ writer, that within hailing distance of 
the Ocean-Born is a dismasted sloop, on board 
of which are at least two ladies and three or 
four young men. Certainly it would be gallant, 
courteous, polite, and even humane, to rescue 
those unhappy voyagers, especially the ladies, 
without a moment’s delay ; yet as they have 
endured the hardships and braved the perils of 
their present situation for several hours, I am 
of the opinion that they can stand it a little 
longer, while I give my readers, to whom I am 
under still greater obligations to be courteous, 
polite, and humane, some needed information in 
regard to the steam yacht and those on board 
of her, who have been talking and acting through 
a whole chapter without a proper introduction. 


32 


OCEAN-BOKIS^. 


There were seven of them on board of the 
Ocean-Born. Undoubtedly the captain, Neil : 
Brandon, was the “greatest toad in the puddle,”"^, 
though I have already intimated that the social : 
relations of the ship’s company were very demo- 
cratic. He was a young man of eighteen, the 
only son of a poor widow who was worth just 
half a million of dollars, yielding her an income 
of exactly thirty-five thousand dollars a year. 
It is. necessary that these figures should be accu- 
rately stated in order to render it probable that 
the -son could own a share in a steam yacht of 
thirty-eight and twenty-six hundreths tons, old 
measurement, and be able to pay a portion of 
the expenses of running her. Steam yachts like 
the Ocean-Born are expensive luxuries ; but it 
must be admitted that the expense of keeping 
one, when equally divided among four persons, 
is only one fourth as much as when the whole 
is paid by a single individual. Without stopping 
to demonstrate this i)roposition, I will content 
myseK by adding that the captain’s share of the 
expenses was comparatively light. 

I can only give the current information, at 
this stage of the story, in regard to Madam 


OCEAN-BORN. 


33 


Brandon, the mother of the captain, without 
vouching for its correctness. Everybody in the 
vicinity of her residence knew that her husband 
had made liis fortune by the rise of lai; 
Grandfather Brandon had owned a farm in wh.it 
is now, but ivas not then, the city of Philadel- 
phia. He left it to his three sons, two of whom 
made haste to sell their portions for the most 
they could get, and then made haste to spend 
the money they obtained for it in eating, drink- 
ing, and riotous living, so that they died and 
filled drunkards’ graves. Neil Brandon, the old- 
est son, did not sell his fifty acres, and did not 
indulge in riotous living. He was a seafaring 
man, and he thought that after he had become 
tired of voyaging on the ocean from clime to 
clime, he might wish to settle down upon the 
old place, and tnd his days on the farm. The 
house and barn of his father were on his land, 
and he leased his estate for more than enough 
to pay the taxes and all other expenses. 

He had gone to sea before the mast when he 
was eighteen, and when he was thirty he was 
mate of an East Indiaman, witli the hope and 
expectation of soon becoming her commander ; 
3 


S4 


OCEAN-BORN. 


but, according to the current story, he had sud- 
denly become disgusted with the sea, and aban- 
doned his calling before he had reached the 
summit of his ambition. When he became mate 
of the ship, he married a woman of French de- 
scent in New Orleans. She sailed with him to 
Liverpool, and thence to the East Indies, as a 
passenger. He left her in Hong Kong, while 
he made a voyage to San Francisco, and she 
again sailed with him for New York. On the 
voyage their only child, Neil, was born. His 
mother often called him her Ocean-Born, and 
when the boy was old enough to understand it, 
he rather liked the name. The ship went to 
NeAV Orleans from New York, and took a cargo 
of cotton for Liverpool. After this voyage, the 
mate expected to be the captain of the vessel ; 
but for some reason which Madam Brandon did 
not very clearly explain, even to her son, he 
left the ship at Hong Kong, and came borne as 
a passenger. 

When the boy was four years old, Neil Bran- 
don took up his residence on his farm near Phil- 
adelphia. The city was pushing its way out in 
the country. Great avenues were cut through 


OCEAN-BORN. 


35 


his farm, and Neil sold all his land for twenty- 
five cents a foot, except the lot on which his 
house stood. It is true that he was vexed, a 
^ year later, to see the same land sold for double, 
triple, and quadruple the price he had received. 
Houses were erected all around him, and finally 
he sold the old homestead lot, to become the 
site of a church. After he had bought another 
lot, and built a substantial residence upon it, he 
found that he had invested just half a million 
dollars in bonds, mortgages, and other securities. 
When he had moved into his new house, he 
was taken sick. The doctors told him he might 
live a month, and he might live a year, but the 
end was near. He made his will, leaving all 
his property to his wife, now not more than thirty 
years old. People thought, after Neil Brandon 
was dead, that this was a very strange will, for 
Madam Brandon might marry again, and even 
deprive the son of any portion of his father’s 
wealth. But when the boy was eighteen, she 
had not married again, though even at forty- 
two ,she was a good-looking woman ; and it was 
said that she had made a will, giving all her 
fortune to the boy. 


36 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Madam Brandon was not a well-educated and 
accomplished woman. She even admitted that 
lier parents were poor, and that she had been a 
servant before she was married. But she was a , 
lady of good common sense, and she took care 
that her boy should have every advantage which 
the educational institutions of the country 
afforded. Unfortunately, as she considered it, 
Neil began to manifest an inclination for a sea- 
faring life. When he was a dozen years old, he 
“ took to boats ” as a duck takes to the water. 
The neighbors said he had inherited his father’s 
taste for the sea. At sixteen he sailed a boat 
like an old yachtman ; but Madam Brandon kept 
him to his studies with great tact. She gave 
him a boat for his leisure hours and vacations, 
but she insisted that his lessons should be 
learned. His friend and nautical companion was 
Berry Owen, the son of a rich merchant ; and 
they spent weeks together in sailing up and 
down the Delaware, and even far out to sea, in 
the Niobe, a sloop of five tons, which they 
owned in common. 

While thus engaged in yachting, they made 
the acquaintance of Gerald and Martin Roach, 


OCEAN-BORN. 


87 


two of the sons of a wealthy and enterprising 
machinist, who built the largest and finest steam 
engines and other machinery in the country. 
They sailed together, and became fast friends. 
Od* cape May, in a calm, one day, they talked 
about a steam yacht, and what a glorious play- 
thing it would be. In one they could defy a 
calm, which was the abomination of enthusiastic 
sailors and yacht-men. In another year the 
dream was realized. Mr. Roach had been experi- 
menting in iron vessels, and had built the hull 
of the yacht. Neil’s mother and Berry Owen’s 
father together agreed to pay one half of the 
expense of the vessel, and she was completed. 
Because they liked the name, and because the 
idea had been first talked about on the ocean, 
they called her the Ocean-Born. 

Gerald and Martin Roach were both learning 
their father’s business, and both of them had 
worked on the hull and engine of the yacht. 
Gerald was nineteen, and “ knew an engine all 
to pieces,” as Neil expressed it to his mother, 
when she spoke of the peril of playing with so 
dangerous a motor as steam. He was competent 
to make the designs and build an engine, and 


38 


OCEAN-BORN. 


certainly lie was able to run one, and make all 
needed repairs upon it. Martin, though two 
years younger, was not much less accomplished, 
and had actually constructed a little engine, 
which he had attached to the steam-heating 
apparatus in his father’s house. Both of these 
boys worked three hours in the machine shop 
every day, besides attending to their studies in 
school. They had their holidays and vacations, 
like other boys, which were employed in the 
steam yacht, till the ice closed the river. Neil 
said nothing more about going to sea, and Madam 
Brandon was entirely satisfied. She gladly paid 
her son’s share of the expenses of the vessel. 

During the first year of their experience, the 
ship’s company of the Ocean-Born, as the young 
men called themselves, seldom went beyond the 
Capes at the mouth of the Delaware, though on 
the long vacation they made a voyage around 
Cape Charles, and to the head of Chesapeake 
Bay. Neil and Berry were studying navigation 
at school and they often invited their instruc- 
tors, to make excursions with them, in order to 
obtain the practical application of the science. 
Both of them could take observations with the 


OCEAN-BORN. 


39 


instruments, and work out the problems to 
obtain the latitude and longitude. They Avere 
deeply interested in the study, and once at least 
every day, Avhen on board of the yacht, they 
worked out the ship’s position, Avherever they 
Avere. They had a record of the precise latitude 
and longitude of scores of points on the river 
and bay, taken for the sake of the practice. 
All the young men Avere zealous students, and 
during the first year, at least, the pilot-house 
and engine-room Avere places for study. When 
they went up the Chesapeake, it was necessary 
to employ a pilot, and they procured a very 
intelligent shipmaster, Avho voluntarily became 
their instructor. 

For a month before the long vacation, the 
second year, an extended voyage was discussed. 
The Ocean-Born had proved herself to be a 
thorough sea-going vessel. The boys had been 
out in her at sea in a gale of wind, and knew 
precisely Avhat she would do. Finally it Avas 
agreed that the trip should be to the coast of 
Maine, including a run up the Penobscot River, 
and a visit to Mount Desert, going in at New- 
p{)rt on the Avay. The yacht was coaled and 
provisioned for the voyage. 


40 


OCEAN-BOBN. 


Ordinarily the four owners sailed the Ocean- 
Born alone, though, as may well be supposed, 
there were plenty of volunteers to assist on 
board, even in the most menial capacities. It 
was necessary to have a cook for a long cruise, 
for Mr. Roach and Madam Brandon insisted that 
the boyfe should not depend upon amateur efforts 
for their diet. Peter Blossom, a colored man, 
and a first-rate cook, was engaged ; and he was 
the only hired man on board. Neil Brandon 
was the captain, because he was believed to be 
the best sailor. Berry Owen was the mate, 
though practically the two young men performed 
the same duties. On short cruises, one of them 
had to act as deck-hand, when there was any 
work for one, as in anchoring, getting under 
way, and making a landing. Gerald Roach was 
nominally the engineer, and Martin the fireman ; 
but at sea one of them would tend the fire and 
take charge of the engine. While Neil and Berry 
took turns at the wheel, Gerald and Martin 
spelled each other at the engine. They kept 
the regular nautical watches in both depart- 
ments. 

Karl Schnaffer was the nephew of a rich Ger- 


OCEzVN-BORN. 


41 


man merchant, who had been in the country but 
a short time. He lived next door to Mrs. Bran- 
don, and Neil was much interested in him. Ho 
was still struggling with the difficulties of the 
English language. He was the captain’s friend, 
and acted as cabin steward. Ben Lunder was a 
former schoolmate of Berry Owen, but was now a 
sophomore in Columbia College, in New York. 
Ben had never been far out at sea. He knew very 
little about nautical matters, and he affected to 
know still less. Both he and Karl made a great 
deal of fun on board, and sedate as Gerald Roach 
generally was, he could not help laughing at the 
follies and blunders of Ben, the deck-hand, and 
Karl, the cabin steward. 

•The Ocean-Born had been to Newport, and 
was now on her voyage to the Penobscot. On 
the day before we introduced her to the reader, 
the wind had been south-east, with heavy rains. 
Early in the morning the breeze had swung 
around to the north-west, and it had blown very 
fresh all day. 

The yacht was eighty-six feet long, and 
eighteen feet beam. Her “house on deck” was 
fifty feet long. The forward and after cabins 


42 


OCEAN-BORN. 


were eacli fifteen feet long. Connected with the 
forward cabin were two large state-rooms, occu- 
pied by Neil and Berry. Abaft the engine-room 
were two more, one of which was used by the 
Roaches, who preferred to room together. In 
the forecastle, whicli was of good size, light, 
and well ventilated, were eight berths, in which 
good beds were made up for the use of any 
party who might be on board. Indeed, this 
forecastle was fitted up and furnished quite as 
well as the forward cabin, which was the mess- 
room of the officers. The after-cabin was quite 
elegant, and w^as seldom opened, except when 
ladies were or board. The galley, where Peter 
Blossom presided, was fitted up with every con- 
venience a cook could expect to find on board a 
vessel. In the hold, under the main deck, were 
the engine, boiler, and coal-bunkers. The ice- 
house was in the run, reached by a scuttle in 
the quarter-deck, and it was well filled with 
beef, mutton, poultry, fish, and other substan- 
tials. 

♦ 

Before the Ocean-Born came within hailing . 



OCEAN-BOKN. 


43 


liad made up liis mind in regard to the charac- 
ter of the yacht. Two ladies had showed their 
heads above the side of the companion-way. It 
I was evident that a jdeasure party was on board 
of the yacht, that her mast had been carried 
awa}^ and thus disabled, she had been blown 
off the coast. 

“ How now, captain of the Ocean-Born ? 
What shall I do ? ” asked Ben Lunder, as the 
steamer approached the wreck. 

“ Do nothing, Ben, but keep still if you can,” 
replied Neil. 

“ I will try to keep still ; but I’m afraid it’s 
quite impossible.” 

“ Ring your speed-bell. Berry,” continued the 
captain, as the yacht approached still nearer to 
the dismasted craft. 

The speed of the steamer decreased ; but in 
a few moments she was near enough to the 
wreck to heave a line on board. 

“ Steamer, ahoy ! ” shouted some one on board 
of the sloop. 

“ On board the sloop ! ” replied Neil. “ What 
shall we do for you ? ” 

“ Can you tow us in ? ” 


44 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Ay, ay. Where were you bound ? ” 

“ To Belfast.” | 

“All right! We are bound up the Penobscot, j 
Shall I take you ofP?” ^ 

“No — thank you. We are all right.” j 

“Stand by to catch a line!” continued Neil. 

— “ Now, Berry, run across her bgw, and stop 
her when our stern is up with her bowsprit.” i 
The gong in the engine-room sounded, and ' 
the steamer went ahead slowly, rolling heavily : 
in the sea. 

“Ring one bell!” shouted the captain. ^ 

“ One bell,” replied Berry, in the pilot-house ; - 

and the boat stopped. 

Neil had coiled up a heave-line, which he i 
tossed on the forecastle of the sloop, where it ^ 
was caught and secured to her cable-rope. Ben 4 
helped the captain haul it in, and it was made i 
fast to a heavy iron ring below the rail of the i 
steamer. j 

“All ready! Go ahead!” shouted the spokes- ! 
man on board the sloop. 

“ Ring one bell,” added Neil. — “ Start her 
very slowly,. Gerald,” to the engineer, at the 
door of whose' room he stopped. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


45 


In the heavy sea there was some danger of 
swamping the “ tow ” if the work was not pro- 
perly done. The hawser tightened and strained ; 
and, as the steamer went ahead, a large wave 
rolled over the how of the sloop. 

“ Stop her Gerald ! ” said the captain, still 
standing at the door of the engine-room. — “On 
board the sloop ! ” 

“ The steamer ! ” replied some one from the 
yacht. 

“ Give her more hawser ! Slack off ! ” 

“Ay, ay ! ” 

“ Make fast ; about double the length you had 
before.” 

“ All right ! Go ahead ! ” 

“ Start her slowly, Gerald,’ said the captain- 

With a longer line the sloop towed better, 
but she rolled badly in the trough of the sea. 

“ Ring the speed-bell. Berry,” said the cap- 
tain, when he had observed the tow for a time. 

The Ocean-Born went ahead at full speed ; 
but the sloop seemed to work very well, rolling 
no worse than before. 

“ Where are the heroines, captain ? ” asked 
Ben. 


46 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“In the cabin of the sloop. They have closed ] 
np the companion-way to keep the sea out,” \ 
answered Neil. 

“ But aren’t we going to transfer them to the 
stormy hatchway of the Ocean-Born?” 

“I think not.” 

“ Don’t we rescue them, and all that sort of 
thing ? ” 1 

“That is just what we are doing.” 1 

“But don’t we rig out the fore to’ thingum- 
bob and li’ist in the main-royal what-you-call- 
it ? In other words don’t we get out the miz- 
zen starboard life-boat, and wrench those fair 
beings from the embrace of the heaving bil- 
lows ? ” 

“No we don’t,” laughed the captain. “We 4 
tow the sloop into Belfast : that’s all we do at 
present.” 

“ Those waves are wet,” added Ben, shaking 
his head. 

“ Rather moist ; and for that reason I should ; 
advise those ladies, if I were permitted to speak * 
to them, to keep out of them, and out of the j 
way of them.” I 

“There isn’t any romance in towing that ^ 



■’k 


» 


1 


Towing the Sea Foam. Page 45. 




OCEAN-BORN. 


47 


dismasted hulk over the stormy sea. Can’t you 
give me an opportunity to do a big thing, and 
place the fair strangers under everlasting obli- 
gations to me?’' 

“ Can’t accommodate you just now ; but you 
may crawl on that tow-line to the sloop, and 
then, if you can persuade one of the ladies to 
jump overboard, you may go in after her.” 

“ But that’s dangerous.” 

“ Slightly.” 

“ Can’t we get out the mizzento’-quarter-boat, 
and bring them on board ? ” 

“ I think they will not care to get into a 
boat while it is jumping about. Let them 
alone, Ben, and we will drag them into smooth 
water before dark.” 

“ But we don’t know who or what they are. 
Have you the name of the sloop ? ” 

“ I have not ; but I can afford to wait.” 

“You are knocking all the romance out of 
tlie thing.” 

“ There is none in it to knock out. The 
people on board of the sloop are a party who 
went out to sail ; the mast of the yacht went 
by the board, and they could not get back to 


48 


OCEAN-BORN. 


tlie place they started from. That’s the whole 
of it.” 

“But didn’t the fellow say he wanted to go 
to Belfast?” 

“ You are right, Ben, for once. Let us be 
patient, and we shall know all about the mat- 
ter in a few hours.” 

“It is terrible to he within ten fathoms of 
two ladies, without knowing whether they are 
pretty or not,” added Ben, with a very long 
face. “ I should like to show them what a 
glorious deck-hand can do in the way of making 
himself agreeable.” 

“You shall have the chance before dark.” 

Ben went to sleep in the forward cabin, and 
for three hours more the Ocean-Born tugged 
away at the tow astern of her, her speed con- 
siderably diminished by the added work required 
of her engine. At four o’clock Captain Brandon 
relieved the mate at the wheel. For the last 
two hours, at this time, Manhegin Light had been 
in plain sight. The island on which it is 
located is of considerable size, and rather high. 
At live the steamer came up with it. On the 
shelf in front of the captain, “ Blunt’s Coast 


OCEAN-BORN. 


49 


Pilot ” lay open at page 242. Neil had read np 
the matter relating to the island, and he decided 
to go to the southward of it. He ran the yacht 
near enough to the shore to throw a biscuit 
upon it ; and here the water was as smooth as 
far up the river. Gradually slowing down, he 
stopped the boat, so that the sloop should not 
run into her. 

“ Hullo, Ben ! Bear a hand here ! ” shouted 
the captain. 

“ What’s broken ? ” demanded Ben, springing 
to his feet. 

“ Your slumbers. We will lower a boat, and 
board the sloop now,” replied Neil. 

One of the quarter-boats, which were swung 
in on the davits, high enough to allow any one 
to pass under them, was dropped into the water. 
Ben and the captain pulled to the sloop. 


4 


50 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


CHAPTER III. 

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEA FOAM. 

B efore the quarter-boat of the Ocean-Born 
could reach the sloop, all on board of the 
latter had come on deck. It was a day in 
August, but the north-west wind rendered the 
weather quite cool at sea, though the sun, even 
at five o’clock in the afternoon, was warm under 
the lee of the high island. The boat came along- 
side the sloop, and Neil Brandon stepped on 
board of her, followed by Ben Lunder. Both 
of the Philadelphians touched their caps politely, 
and bowed to the ladies, of whom there now 
appeared to be three, instead of two, all of 
them still in their teens. 

“ I beg your pardon, ladies and gentlemen, 
but may I speak to the captain of this yacht ? ” 
said Neil. 

“ Captain Ned Patterdale,” said one of the 


OCEAN-BORN. 


51 


young men, introducing another, who stepped 
forward. 

“ The yacht belongs to me, and I am in 
charge of her,” said Ned Patterdale, bowing. 

“ Captain Brandon, commander of the steam- 
yacht Ocean- Born, of Philadelphia,” interposed 
Ben, introducing his friend. 

“ Captain Brandon, I am glad to know you,” 
added Ned, extending his hand. “ I may say 
I am particularly glad to know you, under pre- 
sent circumstances.” 

“ And I heartily reciprocate the sentiment,” 
said Neil, shaking hands with the captain of the 
sloop. “What yacht is this?” 

“ The Sea Foam, of and for Belfast.” 

“You have been unfortunate.” 

“Very unfortunate; and this fact enables us 
to appreciate your kindness.” 

“ Nothing can afford me so much pleasure as 
to assist the unfortunate,” said Neil, glancing at 
the rest of the party. 

“ Captain Brandon, allow me to introduce my 
party,” added Ned, as he turned to the ladies, 
who were all bundled up in shawls and water- 
proofs. “This is my sister. Miss Nellie Pat- 
terdale” 


52 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Captain Brandon took off his cap, and bowed 
low. 

“ Miss Minnie Darling ; and I may add that 
she is the president of the Dorcas Boat Club,” 
added Ned. 

Neil properly represented Philadelphia gal- 
lantry. 

“ Miss Kate Bilder, boat-leader of the Lily 
Club. 

The captain did honor to the teaching of his 
Philadelphia dancing-master, who had years be- 
fore instructed him how to bow gracefully to a 
lady. Mr. Ben Lunder was introduced in like 
manner to the ladies. 

“ Captain Brandon, Mr. Ramsey, better known 
among iis as Don John, of the firm of Ramsay 
& Son, boat-builders; ” and the captain and Ben 
shook hands with him. “ Don John is the 
builder of the Sea Foam.” 

“ And the maker of that unfortunate mast 
that went by the board,” laughed Don John. 

“But I shall prove by and by that it v/as 
not the fault of the spar or its maker, that it 
failed us in a trying moment,” interposed Ned, 
who then presented the rest of the party — 


OCEAN-BORN. 


53 


Prince Willingood, Morris Hollinghead, and Dick 
Adams. 

“ Captain Patterdale, I did not come on board 
to draw out your thanks, or even to gratify my 
own curiosity in regard to the yacht or her 
part}^,” continued Neil, “but simply to invite 
you on board of the steamer, where I think you 
can all be better accommodated, but especially 
the ladies. Allow me to place my after-cabin 
at their disposal.” 

“ Thank you, captain ; and in their behalf I 
shall accept the invitation,” replied Ned; “for 
they have been tossed about since six o’clock 
this morning, and more than one wave has 
broken into the cabin where they were. They 
are all cold and wet.” 

“ Ocean-Born, ahoy ! ” shouted Neil. 

“ On board the sloop ! ” replied Berry Owen. 

“ Back her alongside ! ” added Neil. 

“ Ay, ay, captain.” 

“What steamer is that, captain?” asked Ned. 

“ The Ocean-Born, of Philadelphia,” answered 
Neil ; “ and she is entirely at your service. I 
hope you will all come on board, for it is fifty 
miles to Belfast, if my reckoning is correct.” 


54 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


“ Thanks : we shall he happy to accept your 
kind invitations, though it will be necessary for 
one of us to remain on board to steer.” 

“ But we will noAv lash the Sea Foam along- 
side the steamer, so that you can pass from 
one vessel to the other without difficulty. I take 
it we shall have smoother water now,” added 
Neil. 

“Yes; we shall be under the lee of the land,” 
replied Ned. 

“ I shall need a pilot for the bay, for I know 
nothing at all about it.” 

“We can furnish you just five pilots for these 
waters, for aU cf us are perfectly at home in 
the bay.” 

“I prefer one pilot to five,” laughed Neil. 

“ Then Don John is your man.” 

“I am at your service,” said the boat-builder, 
as the Ocean-Born came alongside the Sea 
Foam. 

The three young ladies were shivering with 
the cold, for, before they could be induced to 
allow themselves to be shut up in the cabin, 
they had been wet through. A fire had been 
made in the stove in the cook-room, forward, 


OCEAN-BORN. 


65 


of the Sea Foam; but the sea had carried away 
the piece of funnel above the deck, and the 
water rolled through the hole into the stove, 
putting out the fire and filling the cabin with 
smoke and gas. Morris Hollinghead, who was 
the cook for the cruise, had been unable to 
practise his vocation for the want of a fire ; and 
the bill of fare for breakfast and dinner had been 
“ hard tack ” and cheese, with cold water. Tlie 
“soft tack’" and other stores had been washed 
with salt water. 

Neil and Ben politely assisted the ladies on 
board of the steamer, and conducted them to 
the after-cabin. The blinds had been opened, 
and steam let into the heating apparatus, so 
that the cabin was already warmed to eighty 
degrees. 

“ What a magnificent cabin ! ” exclaimed Min- 
nie Darling, as she entered it. 

“ This is the ladies’ cabin, and we seldom 
open it except when we have ladies on board. 
Here is a state-room, with two berths and a 
divan,” continued Neil, opening the door of the 
room. “ No one will enter the after-cabin except 
upon your invitation, ladies.” 


56 


OOEAN-BOKN. 


“ Isn’t it elegant ! ” ejaculated Kate Bilder. 

“And as warm as toast!” added Nellie Pat- 
ter dale. 

“ When it is too warm, you can turn this 
little wheel in the radiator. I will leave you 
now. We shall have supper in about an hour 
in the forward cabin. Shall I close the bhnds 
before I go ? ” 

“ Thank you : do so, if you please.” 

The captain closed the blinds, and retired, 
shutting the door behind him. The young 
ladies were as private and as comfortable as they 
would have been in their own houses ; or they 
would have been if they could have changed 
their wet clothing for dry. 

The fenders were put over the side, and the 
Sea Foam was securely lashed to the steamer ; 
and, after the boat had been hoisted up and 
swung in, the Ocean-Born went ahead. Though 
the young men from the Sea Foam were wet, 
they were used to it, and did not mind the 
cold. They looked over the steamer with interest, 
and then dried themselves off in the fire-room. 

Neil had instructed Peter Blossom, the cook, 
to get up the best supper he could for the party ; 


OCEAN-BORN. 


5T 


and Mr. Blossom was doing his “ level best ” 
under these orders. The forward cabin had 
been heated, and the captain and Ben were 
entertaining their guests there, except Dick 
Adams, Avho was at the helm of the sloop. 

“ I could not make out what you were for 
a long time after I heard the gun you fired,” 
said Neil, alluding to the events of the day. 
“ I saw no mast or sail, and I could not under- 
stand how a row-boat happened to have a gun 
on board big enough to make so much noise.” 

“ The Sea Foam belongs to the Belfast Yacht 
Club, and most of the craft have the regulation 
gun on board,” Ned Patterdale explained. 

“ But how happened you to lose your stick ? ” 

“ It was no fault of the stick, I assure you,” 
added Neil, glancing at Don John. “ The Sea 
Foam broke adrift the other day, and ran into 
the bridge above the city. She struck it between 
the piles, and took all the strain on her mast, 
and broke it half off just above the deck. I 
had an iron band put on it, and the ship-smitli 
said it was stronger than before.” 

“You were off on a long cruise ; that is, a 
long one with ladies on board, with no better 


58 


OCEAN-BORIir. 


accommodations than you had for them,’^ sug- | 
gested Neil. ] 

“ The run from Belfast to Portland is about 
a hundred miles. When I went down, we sailed ; 
at four o’clock in the morning, and arrived at 
six in the evening — fourteen hours. My father j 
is a member of the Portland Yacht Club, and, | 
as what is mine belongs to him, he entered the ; 
Sea Foam for the regatta which took place ' 
yesterday afternoon. My sister and the other 
girls wanted to see the race, and we were glad 
to have them go with us, for I was sure we 
could make the run, with a decent breeze, 
between sun and suii ; and we did. The girls 
staid at my uncle’s house in Portland the two 
nights, and saw the race from a steamer.” 

“ What luck had you ? ” inquired Neil. 

“ The wind was rather light yesterday for the 

Sea Foam, which is a heavy-weather boat; but ' 

we took the second prize in our class. That 

was better than we expected in that breeze ; i 

so we were all satisfied. We were the first in ; 

of our class, but Tost the first prize on allow- | 

ances. I turned out at four o’clock this morn- ' 

1 

ing, and finding that a smashing breeze was i 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


59 


b/owing, I did not get the girls on board till six 
o’clock, for I thought I could make the run in 
twelve hours or less. We had the wind free ; 
and having girls on board, I put a single reef 
ill the mainsail. When we were clear of the 
islands, the wind piped fresher and fresher. 
About eight o’clock, when we were twenty miles 
out, I began to think about putting ' another 
reef in the mainsail. I asked Don John to take 
a look at the mast, and he started to do so. 
Just then a heavy flaw came, and before he 
could get out of the standing-room, snap went 
the mast. It dropped over the side, and hung 
to, the stump by the splinters, held by the jib- 
stay shrouds and sheets. The yacht heeled over 
to leeward, so that the girls screamed, and I 
was afraid she would All, for the companion-way 
was open, and the fore -hatch not fastened.” 

“ You were in a tight place.” 

“We were. I wanted to save the sail, if I 
could ; but Don John cut away the mast with 
a hatchet, and we cleared away the wreck as 
well and quickly as we could. The jib-stay 
parted at the mast-head, so that we saved the 
jib. The sloop righted then ; but she rolled 


60 


OCEAN-BORN. 


terribly in the trough of the sea, as she drifted 
rapidly to leeward. The girls were awfully 
frightened, though they are braver than girls 
generally are on the water. We tried to keep 
her head up to the sea with the oars, but with- 
out success. Don John then tried to rig a jury- 
mast, by lashing the two oars together. We 
got it up and bent the jib on the boat-hook as 
a yard. We had hardly set the sail, when the 
jury-mast snapped. About this time we made 
out your steamer with the glass. We fired 
three guns before you put about and headed 
for us.” 

“We had to take in sail; but I headed for 
you as soon as I made you out,” added Neil. 

“ I know you did ; and you could not have 
heard the first guns we fired. We were happy 
when we saw the steamer headed for us, as you 
may well believe. 

“And I was happy to think I could help 
you.” • 

“ You have a sailor’s heart. Captain Brandon; 
and I hope you will remain some time at Bel- 
fast,” added Ned. “We shall do all we can to 
make your stay pleasant.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


61 


“Thank 3^011; but 1 am going up the Penob- 
scot as far as Bangor. I intended to stop at all 
the principal towns, for we have a month of 
vacation before us.” 

“ The Yacht Club and the Dorcas Club have 
planned an excursion up the river, and we 
should be glad to go with you; but of course 
we can’t beat up stream with your steamer.” 

“ How many yachts are going ? ” 

“ Only six have agreed to do so.” 

“ Then I can tow you up. But pray what is 
the Dorcas Club ? I don’t quite understand 
that,” said Neil. 

“ The Dorcas Benevolent Society is an asso- 
ciation of twenty-five young ladies who sew for, 
and otherwise help, the poor and needy of our 
city,” continued Ned. “They have done a great 
deal of good that no one else would have thought 
of doing. When they took a fancy for rowing, 
some of the wealthy men of the city, including 
Don John here — ” 

“ I am not one of the wealthy men of the 
city,” interposed the boat-builder. 

“But you gave the Dorcas Club a boat.” 

“ One I had built during the leisure of a 
winter,, when I had nothing else to do.” 


62 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


“ Don John gave a boat, Mr. Jones gave a 
boat, and others gave money to buy boats. Now 
the Dorcas Club have five four-oar boats, in 
which they do the most graceful rowing you 
ever saw.” 

“We must stop two weeks in Belfast,” said 
Ben Lunder, rubbing his hands. “ Young lady 
boat-clubs ! The honey- pots are upset upon us 
by this fortunate adventure ! Bless you. Cap- 
tain Patterdale, for carrying away the fore-sky- 
sail-mast of your royal yacht ! Twenty-five 
young ladies in boats ! ” 

All hands laughed heartily at this sally. The 
topic was changed, much against Ben’s wishes, 
for the guests wanted to know more about the 
Ocean-Born and those who sailed her. Nearly 
all we have given the reader was imparted to 
them on this subject. 

“ Der subber ist ready ! ” shouted Karl, when 
he had brought in all the dishes from the 
galley. 

“Twenty-five young ladies, in five boats!” 
exclaimed Ben ; “ rowing gracefully ! smiling 
sweetly ! Who ever heard of such a thing ? 
Shade of the stu’n-sail-boom ! I bathe my 


OCEAN-BORN. 


63 


weary spirit in sweet visions of the future ! ” 

“ Miss Bilder is the leader of the Lily,” added 
Ned. 

“ Builder of sweet castles in the air ! ” 

“Der subher ist ready!” shouted Karl, impa- 
tiently. ‘‘ I dinks you don’t petter dalk all 
night, ven der shickens must get gold. I goes 
to der door der gabin, and dells der ladies der 
subber ist ready. I guess you don’t petter stay 
here ven dey must stop in der gabin. Dey don’t 
go dill you gomes for dem.” 

“ Right, Karl I ” and Neil, Ned, and Ben went 
for them. 

They were escorted to the forward cabin. 
Karl, with some assistance from Mr. Peter Blos- 
som, the artist of the galley, had set the table 
in the most elegant manner. The cook was not 
satisfied to remain in the galley after he had 
cooked the supper ; and, putting on a clean 
white jacket, had come into the cabin, ostensi- 
bly to wait on the table, but really to witness 
and enjoy his triumph. 

The bill of fare included broiled chickens, 
beefsteak, mutton chops, with toast, muffins, 
lady-cake, ladies’ fingers, and other nice things 


64 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


especially prepared for the ladies. Peter had 
done his best, as he was instructed to do, and 
the effect was immense. The guests were duly 
and properly astonished at the variety and ele- 
gance of the table. 

“ You live like nabobs,” said Ned Patterdale, 
who was seated on Neil’s left, while Nellie was 
on his right. 

“ It would be acting a lie to pretend that we 
make such a spread as this at every meal,” 
laughed Neil. “ Mr. Peter Blossom, our cook, 
who has the most profound respect for the 
ladies, got up his bill of fare for this great occa- 
sion. Shall I give you some broiled chicken, 
Miss Patterdale ? ” 

“ If you please,” replied she. 

“ Miss Minnie, darling,” said Ben Lunder, 
who was seated opposite the president of the 
Dorcas Club, “may I — ” 

“ Now, Mr. Lunder,” interposed Minnie, blush- 
ing, “ I wish to say that you are perpetrating a 
very old and a very stale joke. I am the victim 
of my name ; but I banish every gentleman from 
my presence who presumes to put a comma 
between my first and last name.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


65 


“Good Neptune, whose son I am! I will 
banish every comma from my speech I ” exclaimed 
Ben, amid the laughter of all the company. 

“ May I be allowed to ask your name, Mr. 
Lunder?” continued Minnie. 

“ Certainly : Benjamin Lunder.” 

“Precisely so: B. Lunder,” laughed the 
president of the Dorcas Club. “ Perhaps you 
will not object to banishing the period, which, 
doubtless, you use in writing your name, and 
changing the capital L into a small one. How 
will it read then ? ” 

“B — lunder, Blunder,” added Ben, rubbing 
his head. 

“ Which describes your case exactly, Mr. 
Lunder.” 

“ Good I ” shouted the captain ; and the others 
applauded the hit. 

“I think I will not banish the period,” added 
Ben, ruefully, “ only the comma.” 

“ I guess you don't petter say noding more,” 
said Karl. — “ Do you dinks you don’t petter 
have some shickens. Miss Tarling ? ” 

“ Thank you, Mr. Schnaffer. On the contrary, 
I think I will have some, but not more than 
5 


66 


OCEAN-BORN. 


one,” laughed Minnie. I suppose you are a . 
sailor, Mr. Lunder.” j 

“ O, yes, yes; I’m a sailor; salt as a red her- j 
ring,” replied Ben. “But it has taken a whole ! 
week to pickle me.” \ 

“Then you enjoy the sea?” 

“ O, wery much : 1 take to it as a duck to a 
mud-puddle. I have a sort of intuitive knowl- 
edge of things salt and nautical. The high and - 
mighty captain of the Ocean -Born reposes the \ 
most implicit confidence in my marine judgment j 
and skill. Why, I had not been on board tAvo ' 
minutes before he sent me out on the mainto’- ^ 
gallant spanker-boom, to take a double reef in 3 
the fore-royal bobstay ! ” | 

“ What a treasure you must be ! I hope the ] 
captain appreciates you.” i 

“ O, he does ! And he has the grace to j 
acknowledge that he could not get along with- 
out me. The Ocean-Born would have gone to 
the bottom in this cruise if I had not been on 
board. Why, only this morning, when the wind 
was blowing blue blazes, the captain was blowing 
up all hands, and the engineer was blowing off 
steam — ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


6Y 


“ See here, Ben ! that is har^dly fair,” said 
the captain, shaking his head. “ You are giving 
these ladies, whose good opinion I value more 
than life, the impression that I am a scold ; 
that I blow up the hands ; whereas I never do 
anything of the sort. I never blow up the 
crew.” 

“ I grant the fact.” 

“ You said I was blowing up all hands.” 

“You have spoiled my figure of speech,” 
replied Ben, solemnly. 

“ I haven’t blown off steam to-day,” added 
Gerald Roach. 

“All right; I stand corrected,” answered Ben. 
“May I trouble you for the starboard side-bone 
of a chicken, wing-and-wing, captain?” 

“You were about to tell us what you did 
only this morning, Mr. Lunder,” interposed 
Minnie. 

“True, I was ; but my figure of speech was 
scuttled, wrecked, foundered, run ashore, dis- 
masted, just to accommodate a few insignificant 
facts ; and what can a fellow do without his 
little figure of speech?” replied Ben, blankly. 

“ I don’t know that I ever heard a fib called 


68 


OCEAN-BORN. 


a figure of speech before ; but go on, Ben,” said 
the captain. 

“ Very likely you will pick me up again, if 
I do. I was trying to show . the necessity of 
having a thorough sailor, like myself, on board. 
I remarked that it was blowing blue blazes : 
I omit the rest of the figure in deference to 
the sensitiveness of the captain and engineer. 
We had three reefs in the toplights, the star- 
board tacks in the carpet, the skysail furled, 
and everything going by the board a lumber 
brig had lost overboard. You can judge by this 
the imminent deadly peril of the Ocean-Born. 
At this critical moment, the captain sent me 
aloft on the mainto’ -gallant bowsprit, to take 
out the kinks in the mizzen-royal smoke-stack. 
Very likely the captain will deny it. The steamer 
was saved, and here we are.” 

“It is not necessary to deny anything in that 
story, Ben,” added the captain; “and I am 
sure the ladies will admire your skill and dar- 
ing.” 

“ Steamer ahoy ! ” 

The hail came from the port side. 

“ On board the sloop ! ” replied Berry Owen, 
who was at the wheel. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


69 


“ Anybody lost ? ” shouted some one ; and 
those at the table saw several yachts. 

“No,” replied Berry. 

• This answer was followed by hearty cheers 
from different directions. 

“Five sloop-yachts like the Sea Foam in 
sight,” said the mate to the party. 

The news of the dismasting of the Sea Foam 
had been telegraphed to Belfast, and the yachts 
had come down to cruise after her. 


70 


OCEAN-BORN. 


CHAPTER IV. 

BOUNDING BILLOW BEN. 

T he party in the forward cabin of the 
Ocean-Born had finished their supper, 
when the steamer was hailed by the yacht 
squadron, and Avere listening to the nautical talk 
of Ben Lunder. They all went on deck, except 
Neil and Don John, who entered the pilot-house 
to relieve Berry Owen. 

“ This is part of our yacht fleet,’’ said Don 
John. “Here is the Skylark on our port side, 
and she is Commodore Montague’s yacht.” 

Berry Owen had already rung one bell, and 
the steamer had nearly lost her headway. A 
boat was putting off from the Skylark, and pres- 
ently it came alongside. 

“You have had hard luck, Ned,” said Com- 
modore Montague, whilom “ Little Bobtail,” as 
he leaped on the Ocean-Born. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


71 


“No; on the contrary, I have had good luck 
in falling in with this steamer.” 

“ Bad and good, then, for it was certainly un- 
fortunate to have your mast carried away,” added 
the commodore, as he greeted the Belfast party 
on hoard. 

He was then introduced to the officers of the 
Ocean-Born, whom he regarded with no little 
interest and curiosity. 

“We did not expect to see you, commodore,” 
continued Ned Patterdale. 

“We had a tremendous excitement in the 
city, when a despatch came from Portland that 
the Sea Foam had been wrecked,” replied Robert 
Montague. 

“ How in the world did they know anything 
about it in Portland ? We were dismasted at 
least twenty miles to the eastward of Cape Eliza- 
beth,” added Ned. 

“A party that started for Seguin, but had to 
put back because it was so rough, reported you. 
They arrived at noon. Of course your family 
were terribly alarmed. Your father telegraphed 
to his friends in Portland to send a steamer out 
after you.” 


72 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“I saw a sail-boat making towards Portland,” 
said Don John. 

“ I am sorry the news got to Belfast,” added 
Ned, much troubled. “ I suppose they are still 
worrying about us.” 

“ Of course they cannot have heard from you. 
The fellows in the Yacht Club were so uneasy 
that we decided at once to go on a cruise in 
search of you,” continued Ned. 

“ Our first business, then, ought to be to make 
a telegraph station,” suggested Neil. “ We shall 
hardly get to Belfast before midnight, towing 
the yacht, with the tide against us. We had 
better put into Rockland.” 

“ I thought of that before ; for, as the breeze 
has been fresh all day, we were probably ex- 
pected to arrive by five or six o’clock. But 1 
did not like to ask you to vary your course, 
captain,” said Ned. 

“ Rockland it is,” replied Neil. 

The commodore of the yacht squadron bade 
the party good night, and returned to the Sky- 
lark. The fleet filled away again, headed up 
the bay, and the steamer proceeded on her 
course. The young ladies were very much dis- 


OCEAN-BORN. 


73 


turbed by the knowledge that their friends at 
home were worr3dng about them, and they were 
not in condition to enjoy the wild talk of Ben 
Lander ; but before nine o’clock the Ocean-Born 
arrived at Rockland. Ned Patterdale went on 
shore, and sent off his despatch as follows : “ Dis- 
masted ; picked up by steam-yacht Ocean-Born ; 
all well ; having a first-rate time ; home to- 
morrow morning : answer.” Ned was not obliged 
to wait long for a reply, for his father and 
mother were both at the telegraph office, 
anxiously waiting for father intelligence. 

“ Thank God you are safe ; all well at home 
now r"" was the answer; and Ned hastened on 
board with it. 

The young ladies were very much relieved by 
this message from the loved ones at home, and 
their spirits rose wonderfully after they had 
read it. The after-cabin was brilliantly lighted ; 
Nellie played on the Chickering upright piano, 
— the gift of Madam Brandon, — and BenLunder 
sang liis choicest songs; for he was a good 
singer. But the girls were veyy much fatigued 
after the labor and excitement of the day, and 
Neil considerately induced his companions to 


74 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


retire at an early hour. At his suggestion, Ned 
had telegraphed that the party would not return 
till the next morning, so that tliey and their 
friends at home might sleep in peace. Except 
Prince, who was steering the Sea Foam, and 
Don John, who was the pilot of the Ocean- 
Born. all the guests turned in about ten o’clock, 
when the steamer was off Camden. Berry 
Owen had his watch below, while Neil remained 
in the pilot-house with Don John. At half 
past twelve the captain let go the anchor off 
the boat-builder’s wharf in Belfast. In another 
half hour every soul on board was asleep. 

As early as five o’clock in the morning some 
of the people on board of the steamer were 
stirring ; but it was seven o’clock when the 
young- ladies appeared, and eight when Neil and 
Don John turned out. 

The beautiful steam yacht had been discovered 
by the people on shore, and a score of boats 
had visited her before breakfast. The morning 
meal was almost as elaborate as the supper on 
the preceding evening, and it was heartily 
enjoyed by the party. 

“ Now, Captain Brandon, we must go on 


OCEAN-BOKN’. 


75 


shore, or our folks will be worrying about us 
again,” said Nellie Patterdale, as they retired 
from the table. “We are ever so much obliged 
to you for jmur kindness.” 

“ O, no. I am the party obliged. Miss Pat- 
terdale,” galhuitly replied Neil. “I am sorry to 
have you go ; but the boats of the steamer are 
at your disposal.” 

“ And your humble servant, also,” added Ben 
Lunder. “I hope I shall have the pleasure of 
navigating you to the blessed shore which is to 
receive you, in the mainto’-gallant quarter-boat.” 

“ Thank you, Mr. Lunder.” 

“ I pull the foreto’-starboard oar.” 

“All right, Ben. You and I will pull the 
ladies ashore,” added Neil. 

“ Thanks, noble captain ! There is a party 
headed for the steamer,” replied Ben, pointing 
to a boat in which were a lady and two gentle- 
men. 

“ My father and mother ! ” exclaimed Nellie. 

“ And my father,” said Kate Bilder. 

In a few moments the boat was alongside. 
Ned and Nellie were affectionately greeted by 
their parents, and Captain Bilder folded Kate 


76 


OCEAN-BORN. 


in his arms, exhibiting the most intense emo- 
tion as he did so. The latter had been in New 
York for a week, and had only returned the 
day before, just in time to hear the alarming 
intelligence concerning his absent daughter. 
Though he had been away a week, he seemed 
to display more emotion than the occasion called 
for. Captain Bilder was very pale and haggard, 
and it was evident to all that he had been 
suffering intensely, though it did not as yet 
appear that he had any greater cause for anxiety 
than the recent peril of Kate. 

The visitors were duly and properly intro- 
duced to the officers of the steamer, after the 
first affectionate greetings had been exchanged. 
Then Ned and Nellie related their startling 
adventures at sea, and mentioned the handsome 
manner in which the shipwrecked party had 
been entertained on board of the Ocean-Born. 
Of course Captain Patterdale and his wife were 
very grateful. So, doubtless, was Captain Bilder ; 
but he did not say so, and seemed to be rather 

absent-minded. j 

; 

“ Why don’t you say something to the captain j 
of the steamer, father?” said Kate, mortified by, 
his silence. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


77 


“ I beg your pardon, but I am very grateful 
for all the service you have rendered to iny 
daughter,” added Captain Bilder, with sudden 
energy. “I am sure no one could appreciate 
your kindness more than I. But the fact is, I 
am in trouble just now. If you will excuse me. 
Captain — Captain — ” 

“ Captain Brandon, father,” Kate interposed, 
helping him out. 

“ Brandon ! ” exclaimed Captain Bilder, with 
a start. 

“ Captain Neil Brandon,” interposed Ben Lun- 
der. 

“ Neil Brandon ! ” repeated Captain Bilder. 
“ Where did you get that name ? ” 

“ From my father,” replied Neil. 

“ What was his name ? ” 

“Neil Brandon.” 

“Where is he now?” 

“ He died twelve years ago.” 

“It is very singular ! ” mused Captain Bilder. 
“ Where did he live ? ” 

“ In Philadelphia.” 

“ It’s the same name ; but it can hardly be 
the same man.” 


78 


OCEAN* BORN. 


“The same as what, sir?” asked Neil, curi- 
ously. 

“ When I went to sea I had a mate of that 
name.” 

“ father went to sea.” 

“ Indeed ! It may have been the same. He 
was a good sailor. But, if you will excuse me. 
Captain Brandon, I will go on shore with 
Kate.” 

“ I hope we shall see you on board again. 
Miss Bilder. — And you, too, sir,” replied Neil. 

“ I’m afraid not.” 

“ Why, what’s the matter, father ? How 
strange you seem to-day ! ” exclaimed Kate. 

“I am in very great trouble, my child; but 
I am sorry only for you. I dare say you can 
visit the — the — the steamer again.” 

“ The Ocean-Born, father,” added Kate. 
“ Isn’t it an odd name ? ” 

“ Ocean-Born ! ” exclaimed Captain Bilder, 
with another start. 

“ That is ibhe name of the yacht, sir,” Neil 
explained. 

“ Ocean-Born ! Why is she called by that 
name ? ” 





‘•Brandon!” exclaiaied Captain Bildkr. Tao^e 

& 












% 





t 






I 


> 


ft 




I 




I 

« 




1 


9 


F, 

, \ 

I 


ftr 







I 

# * 



4 


» ' 



— « 





ft 


A* 


:? 





i 



I 




x^n 


OCEAN-BORN. 


T9 


“ It was a fancy of my own,” answered Neil. 
“ My friends liked the name, and so we chris- 
tened her.” 

“ But why did you call her so ? ” 

“For two reasons. We got the idea of a 
steam yacht when we were on the ocean, off 
Cape May ; and therefore the idea was ocean- 
horn. The other reason is, that I was horn at 
sea, and sometimes my mother called me the 
Ocean-Born.” 

“ Very strange ! ” said Captain Bilder. 

“ Very strange, indeed ! ” added Kate, who 
seemed to understand her father, if no one else 
did. 

“I don’t see anything very strange about it,” 
laughed Neil. 

“ If you wiU excuse us, Captain Brandon, we 
will endeavor to see you again. I have much 
to say to Kate now,” continued Captain Bilder, 
as he walked towards the gangway. 

The father and daughter walked down the 
gangway steps into the boat, and the man at 
the oars pulled them ashore. 

“ What is the matter with Captain Bilder, 
father ? ” asked Nellie Patterdale, as soon as 
they had gone. 


80 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ He has been speculating in stocks for the 
last year, and to-day he is a ruined man,” re- 
plied Captain Patterdale, sadly shaking his head. 
“ About a year ago he lost a considerable por- 
tion of his property by the failure of his brother 
in Baltimore, though he had enough left to af- 
ford him a handsome income. Instead of reduc- 
ing his expenses, which were rather extravagant, 
he attempted to regain what he had lost. In 
order to save what he had invested, he was 
compelled to imperil all he had. The chances 
were against him, and when the current set the 
wrong way, everything' he had went by the 
board. Even his house and furniture are mort- 
gaged for all they are worth.” 

“ I am sorry for poor Kate,” said Minnie 
Darling. 

“ And we are all sorry for Captain Bilder,” 
added Captain Patterdale. “ He is a noble- 
hearted, generous man, and everybody regrets 
his misfortune. At fifty, without a dollar in the 
world, he must commence life anew.” 

“ I hope Kate won’t have to leave the Dor- 
>as Club, we shall miss her so much,” said 
iN^ellie. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


81 


After Captain Bilder’s misfortunes had been 
fully discussed, the visitors from the shore were 
shown over the steamer ; and they bestowed 
many commendations upon the elegance and con- 
venience of her accommodations. Ben Lunder 
had something to say all the time, and Captain 
Patterdale, senior, was rather pleased with his 
humor, encouraging him by laughing at his trav- 
esty of nautical terms. 

“ This is the mizzen to’gallant fo’castle,” said 
Ben, as the party descended to the apartment 
where the deck-hand was quartered. 

It seems to be a very comfortable place,” 
replied Captain Patterdale. 

“ Very comfortable, sir, except when the 
steamer rolls entirely over, like a log in a mill- 
pond, as she did early this morning; and then 
it makes a fellow’s head swim, as it did mine, 
though I am a sailor from the heel of my bob- 
stay to the crown of my sky-scraper. I occupy 
the foreto’-port berth on the main to ’-starboard 
side.” 

“ Precisely so, Mr. Lunder,” laughed the old 
ship-master. “ One can readily identify it from 
your description.” 

6 


82 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“Well, any one who has been to sea can, 
though it might bother a land-lubber,” added 
Ben, scratching his head. “ Before I went to 
sea, I used to get terribly mixed with the sea 
slang in the dime novels. It takes an old salt 
like me to understand and reel ’em off. I can 
do it now, though sometimes it takes all the 
half-hitches out my jaw- tackle to get ’em off.” 

“ How long have you been to sea, Mr. L un- 
der ? ” asked the captain. 

“ It’s about four days now, I think. I haven’t 
overhauled my log-book, but I believe it was 
four days this morning.” 

“You have made remarkable progress in that 
time, for I have known old men, who had been 
at sea forty years, that could not talk half as 
salt as you do,” added the ship-master. 

“ But I give my whole mind to it, sir. I am 
the deck hand of the Ocean-Born, a place of 
great responsibility, as you are aware ; and I 
give my undivided attention to the duties of the 
position. But the fore-royal scuttle gapes for 
our exit.” 

The visitors returned to the deck. By this 
time the boat which had conveyed Captain Bil- 


OCEAN-BORN. 


83 


der and Kate to the shore had returned, and 
tlie Patterdales began to make their adieus. All 
tlie officers were engaged to dine at the elegant 
mansion of the retired ship-master. 

“I depend upon seeing you, Mr. Lunder,” said 
the captain ; “ and I hope you will bring your 
nautical vocabulary with you.” 

“ I shall, certainly ; in fact, I can hardly 
express myself witliout it now,” replied Ben. 
“ But, I beg your pardon, we were to have the 
honor of pulling the ladies ashore in the main- 
to’-gallant quarter boat. I wish them to see 
how well I can handle the forefo’-starboard oar.” 

“ Your vanity shall be gratified, Mr. Lunder,” 
interposed Minnie Darling. 

“ Thanks.” 

“But it seems a little anomalous to call a 
deck-hand Mr. Lunder,” laughed Captain Pat- 
terdale. 

“I am only called so by lollipops and land- 
lubbers,” replied Ben. “ The old salts on board 
never call me muter — do they, Neil?” 

“Never.” 

“ I am Bounding Billow Ben ; but, as this 
name is as long as the coach- whip of the fore to’- 
bowsprit, they call me Ben for short.” 


84 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Captain Patterdale and his wife embarked in 
the shore boat ; and when it had pulled away, 
the starboard quarter-boat was hauled up to the 
•steps. 

“Allow me to h’ist you in, Miss Darling,” 
said Ben, politely. 

“ No, I thank you. Bounding Billow Ben,” 
replied she. “ I prefer to h’ist myself in.” 

“I beg your pardon; but I only used the 
nautical expression for ‘ assist,’ ” added Ben, as 
she took his offered hand. 

“I must say I don’t think the expression is 
well chosen, when addressed to a young lady.” 

“ I acknowledge the error of my briny tongue ; 
and I repent in ash-cloth and sashes.” 

The ladies were seated in the stern-sheets, 
and the captain and deck-hand took their places 
on the thwarts. 

“ Where, O, where is the weather-mizzen row- 
lock ? ” asked Ben. 

“ Made fast with a lanyard there,” replied 
Neil. 

“By the weather or the lee lanyard? Be 
explicit, great captain. Is it the skysail lan- 
yard, or the foreto’-mizzen lanyard ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


85 


“ There it is,” added Neil, pointing to a 
string leading down from the rail to the ceiling. 

“ I see it not. I see the foreto’-royal yard, 
the main-yard, the back-yard, and the front 
yard ; but I don’t see any lanyard.” 

“You don’t know what a lanyard is, Ben,” 
laughed the captain. “ That string that comes 
out of the hole for the rowlock.” 

“That’s not kind of you, Neil,” exclaimed 
the deck-hand, fixing a lugubrious gaze upon 
the captain. “It is not kind of you to chal- 
lenge my knowledge of sea things before these 
ladies. I am an old sea dog, crusted all over 
with salt, and my tongue has been in the pickle 
for four days. It’s cruel ! it’s ungrateful ! Where 
would you have been, if I hadn’t stood by the 
foreto’-backstay, when the main-royal moon-raker 
went by the board ? ” 

“ True, Ben. Forgive me.” 

“ Freely, great captain. To err is human ; to 
forgive is the highest duty of an old ocean mon- 
ster like me, who has sported for four days in 
the eel grass and among the dolphins. Lot’s wife 
was only a little salt compared with me. Now 
I’ll top up this lanyard, and bend on the 
weather rowlock.” 


86 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Ben inserted the rowlock, and shiped his oar. 
He was one of the college rowists, and certainly 
he did not lack in skill. He and Neil pulled 
very well together ; but they had hardly gone 
a length from the steamer before Ben dropped 
his car, stood up in the boat, and elevated both 
hands. 

“My heyes ! Shiver my topsail boom!” ex- 
claimed he. 

“ What’s the matter, Ben ? ” demanded Neil, 
rather impatiently. 

“ Dowse my tarry top-lights ! Break my 
benders, and mash my mizzen to’-gallant mud- 
book I Grind my gronnd-tackle, and slush down 
my starboard tacks ! ” roared the deck-hand. 

“ What ails you, Ben ? ” 

“ Don’t you see ? Open up your dead-lights, 
and glance out of 5^our port peeper.” 

At this moment, three boats of the Dorcas 
Club, which had been concealed by the steamer, 
dashed up to the Ocean-Born, with their oars 
up. Ben, being in, the bow, had seen them first, 
and filled the air with his mongrel slang. 

“ Here are three of our boats I ” said Minnie 
Darling. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


87 


“ Three of them ! ” ejaculated Ben. “ Otto of 
roses ! essence of peppermint, and extract of 
new-mown clover ! Mine eyes have seen, and 
mine heart is gladdened ! ” 

“ There’s the Undine,” said Nellie. 

“ Oon-di-neh ! ” gasped Ben. “ Bright Para- 
celsist vision ! Haste to her ere she sinks be- 
neath the glittering Avave ! ” 

“ Why, Avhat’s the matter. Bounding Billow 
Ben ? ” laughed Minnie. 

“ Five nymphs of the sea, and all in the same 
boat ! Five Undines come up from the shadowy 
deep to ravish our mortal senses ! ” 

“ And the Fairy ! ” said Nellie. 

“ The Fairy ! O, my ! Rained down from 
Cloudland ! ” 

‘‘ And the Psyche ! ” added Minnie. 

“ Psyche ! Hold me down, Neil. I am 
Cupid.” 

“ Stupid, you mean,” replied the captain. 

“Both — stupefied by the nymphs that dawn 
upon our earth-born eyes.” 

Certainly the club boats were beautiful; and 
^in the deck-hand’s estimation the young ladies, 
dressed in their uniform of blue, with their 


88 


OCEAN-BORN. 


saucy straw hats, turned up on one side, were 
infinitely more beautiful. They came alongside 
the quarter-boats, anxious to hear about the 
wreck of the Sea Foam. Neil and Ben were 
introduced, and shook hands with the whole 
fifteen in the boats. The story was told by 
Nellie, and the three clubs dashed away again. 

“ All the boats will be out at three o’clock 
this afternoon,” ^aid Minnie. 

“ Then I shall go up finally and forever,” 
groaned Ben. “ See them ! They look like 
Fairies, Undines, and Psyches. — Is this sea 
water under us. Miss Darling?” 

“ Certainly it is.” 

“ I didn’t know but it might be cream, nectar, 
honey, an ocean of Lubin’s extracts, or some- 
thing of that sort. Of course those boats are 
made of sugar.” 

“ I think not : they would melt if they were.” 

“ I shall melt as it is,” replied Ben, bending 
to his oar. “ How they go it, like a boom 
through a bobstay ! ” 

In a moment the boat was at the wharf, and 
the young ladies were assisted up the steps. 

“ Good by,” said Nellie. ‘'’But we shall see 
you at dinner.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


89 


“We shall call upon all the ladies who have 
been our guests before we leave,” replied Neil. 

“You must not leave for a week yet. You 
must go with us on our excursion up the river.” 

“I shall be glad to do so.” 

The boat pulled back to the Ocean-Born, and 
all hands hastened to dress for dinner. 


90 


OCEAN-BORN. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE LOST CHILD 


EIL BRANDON and Ben Lunder were 



1 ^ soon ready to dine in the elegant man- 
sion of Captain Patterdale, though the deck of 
the Ocean-Born was crowded with visitors from 
the shore, who had come off to see the beauti- 
ful craft. The cabins were thrown open to 
their inspection, and every attention was be- 
stowed upon them by the officers and crew. 
The Sea Foam had been towed to Don John’s 
wharf early in the morning, and the boat-builder 
and his men were hard at work making a new 
mast for her, so that she could join the cruise 
of the clubs up the river. 

“ I beg your pawdon,” said a young man 
wearing a white “ stove-pipe ” hat, stepping up 
to Ben Lunder, as he came out of the cabin, 
dressed in black for the great occasion of the 
day. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


91 


The stranger was a young man of not more 
than nineteen. He was dressed in fashionably 
shaped garments, though one skilled in the 
draper’s art would have seen that the dry goods 
of which they were composed were of the 
cheapest material. The style was in the cut, 
rather than in the quality of the goods. The coat, 
pants, and vest were of a very light color — a 
cross between yellow and white. At a little 
distance they looked as if they were made of 
light-colored chamois skins. He wore white 
socks with patent leather shoes, and on his 
white “ stove-pipe ” hat was a weed not more 
than three inches wide, worn because it was 
the fashion, and not because he had “lost 
any friend,” or had any to lose. His neck-tie 
was of glaring red, “stunningly” ample, and as 
prominent to the view as a red light on a snow- 
bound coast. He wore an immense vest chain, 
which, however, was composed of base metab 
and in genteel society the owner never pulled 
out the second-hand silver watch attached to it, 
purchased at a pawn-broker’s for four dollars 
and twenty-five cents. Of course, the impres- 
sion produced by this young gentleman when 


92 


OCEAN-BORN. 


he dawned upon the vision of the beholder 
was tremendous. And yet he was a young 
man of great aspirations. 

“ I beg your pawdon,” said he, politely touch- 
ing his white hat to the deck-hand of the 
Ocean-Born. 

Ben surveyed him from head to foot ; and resid- 
ing most of the year in New York city, he 
knew the genus well. 

“Well, my hearty, what can I do for you?” 
he replied, in a voice which seemed to come 
from the depths of his lower stomach. 

“ Am I wight in supposing that you belong 
to this — aw — this ship?” inquired the “swell,” 
with an effort. ' 

“You aw — quite wight. I am the foreto’- 
starboard deck-hand of this ship. My name is 
Benjamin Lunder, otherwise Bounding Billow 
Ben, at your service. Who are you, my hearty ? ’ 

“ I beg your pawdon ; allow me to pwesent 
my cawd:” and the young gentleman gracefully 
offered the paste-board, which was big enough 
to be an invitation to a grand diplomatic ball 
in Paris, Vienna, or Berlin. 

“ Arthur McGusher, with Hewlins and Heavy- 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


93 


bones, Dry Goods, forty-nine twenty-eight Broad- 
way, New York,” said Ben, reading from the 
card. “ Aw, then you are a doo-wum-aw, Mr. 
Gush -aw ? ” 

“No, saw ; I am not a dwummaw, if by this 
wawd you mean a comma wcial twaveller, as 
we call them in our house. I am a salesman, 
saw.” 

“ Glad to know you, Mr. McGusher. You 
look all right and tight about the toplights. I 
suppose you want to ship as a boiler-heaver or 
a lobster-boy ? ” 

“ No, saw,” protested Mr. McGusher, with a 
slight blush, and no little indignation in his 
tones. “ I have no desiaw to ship.” 

“ I am glad of it, for we are all full just 
now.” 

“ I only wish to make an inquiwy.” 

“ An inquiwy ! ” exclaimed Ben. “ What’s the 
use of making one, when you can buy them 
ready made? We have nineteen of them stowed 
away in the mizzen-run, with the main royal 
hatches battened down over them.” 

“ I beg your pawdon ; I spoke of an inquiwy,” 
interposed the visitor. 


94 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


“ So did I, my hearty. You can’t play that 
on your uncle, who is an old salt, pickled down 
in four days of hard sea service,” added Ben, 
shaking his head. 

“ I beg your pawdon ; I only wish to ask a 
question. Do you — ” 

“A question! You said you wanted to make 
an inquiry. I beg your pardon, but you must 
speak in plain English to us old salts. We 
haven’t much lamin’ in shore things I ‘To be, 
or not to be,’ — that’s the question.” 

“ Not exactly my question, Mr. — Mr. — ” 

“Bounding Billow Ben; that’s my name; and 
when I sneeze the salt spray flies.” 

“ I beg your pawdon, Mr. Bounding Bennow 
Bill,” said the visitor, with a soft smile. 

“ Bounding Bennow Bill ! S’death, sir I Do 
you mean to insult me ? ” 

“ I beg your paw — ” 

“ My paw shall fall upon you like a hurricane 
upon a flying-jib topsail, if you trifle with my 
name. I am a sailor, sir ! I was cradled on the 
foamy brine — four da^^s ago.” 

“I weally beg your pawdon.” 

“ All right ; now heave ahead, my hearty.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


95 


“I beg your pawdon, but — ” 

“ You did that once before. Now clear away 
your ground- tackle, let go j^our stunsail bobstay, 
overhaul your jib-boom, clap a jaw-tackle on 
your fore-stoppers, and let go that question,” 
blustered Ben. 

“ I beg you paw — ” 

“ Stung in hays again ! Good by, Mr. Mc- 
Gusher. It’s no use. Your yarn is longer than 
the hitch of the foreto’-bobstay ; ” and the deck- 
hand moved towards the accommodation steps, 
where the rest of the dinner party were waiting 
for him. 

“I beg your pawdon — do you — ” 

“ Don’t do it again, you beggar ! ” 

“ Make an end of it, Ben,” shouted Neil, on 
the quarter. 

“ Do you know Captain Bilder, Mr. Bounding 
Billow ? ” said the visitor, desperately. 

“ Bravo, Mr. McGusher ! You have achieved 
it, like a good ship rolling into port with her 
sheets shaking, and her stunsail boom flying 
alow and aloft. Captain Bilder?” mused Ben. 
“ Do you happen to have the other half-hitch 
of his cognominal appellation ? ” 


96 


OCEAN-BORN. 


I beg your — ” 

“ Come, now, don’t ! That’s played out ; it’s 
no longer, original.” 

“ I did not quite undawstand you.” 

. “ Stand by with your ear ports open tight. 
You spoke of Captain Bilder. I asked for the 
other half-hitch of his cognominal appellation ? ” 

“ His what ? ” gasped Mr. McGusher, aghast ! 

“His other half-hitch — the complementary 
portion of his cognominal appellation, you know.” 

“Weally, Mr. Bounding Billow — ” 

“ It’s no use ; if you won’t answer me, I can’t 
keep the high and mighty captain of the Ocean- 
Born waiting for me.” 

“I don’t undawstand you, Mr. — Billow.” 

“O, you don’t! Well, I want Captain Bilder’s 
sky-scraper boom ; the fore-hitch of his main- 
royal cognomen ; the fore-royal smoke-stack of 
the after-mizzen boiler. Po. you understand 
that ? ” 

“ I confess I do not ; I am no sailaw ; ” replied 
the visitor, peacefully giving up the conun- 
drum. 

“I see you are not. What’s Captain Bilder’s 
other name ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


97 


“ O, Wichard ! ” exclaimed Mr. McGusher, 
smiling as sweetly as a rose in June, when Ben’s 
meaning dawned upon him. 

“Wichard! Begins with a W — does it?” 

“ No, saw ; not at all ; Wichard begins with 
an R.” 

“ O, Richard ! Richard’s himself again, as he 
ought to be if his name ever was Wichard. 
Captain Bilder was on board the Ocean-Born, 
but he hauled his wind, let go tacks and sheets, 
and bore away.” 

“Bore away?” queried the visitor. “That 
means that he — ” 

“ Precisely so, Mr. McGusher. You under- 
stand it perfectly,” added Ben, moving off. 

“Bore away? ” repeated the inquirer. 

“ Just as you do,” replied Ben, as a Parthian 
arrow. 

“You don’t petter wait all day. Pen, ven we 
goes to meet mit die ladies — don’t you?” said 
Karl, as the deck hand leaped into the boat. 

“Such a swell!” laughed. Ben, as he took his 
place at the oar. “Now heave ahead at your 
weather skysail oar, Karl.” 

The boat pidled for the shore, leaving Mr. 

7 


98 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Peter Blossom, dressed in his best clothes, in 
charge of ihe steamer. He was abundantly 
competent to do the honors of such an occasion ; 
and he was as polite as half a dozen Frencli 
dancing-masters. 

“ I beg your pawdon, but can you tell me 
where I may find Captain Bilder,” said Mr. 
McGusher, addressing the cook. 

“ He has gone on shore,” replied Mr! Blos- 
som. 

“ You will find him at his house,” said one 
of the visitors, indicating the locality of the 
captain’s residence. 

Mr. McGusher called his boatman, and em- 
barked for the shore. As the party from the 
Ocean-Born will do very well at the elegant 
mansion of Captain Patterdale without any 
attention from us, we will go with the New 
York swell to the residence of Kate’s father; 
or rather we will go a little in advance, leaving 
him to find his way as best he can by inquir- 
ing. 

Captain Bilder had told Kate all about it ; 
that he was absolutely ruined in fortune ; that 
he had lost everything, and was not worth a 


OCEAN-BORN. 


99 


single dollar. He must give up his fine house 
to his creditors, sell his horses and carriages, 
and move into a humble tenement. Kate heard 
him with no little emotion ; but she was a 
brave girl. She realized how much her father 
was suffering ; how it' grieved him to tell her 
that she could no longer five in an elegant 
house, ride behind a pair of horses, or even a 
single one. Her only thought was to comfort 
her father, and she told him she didn’t care a 
straw for herself ; she was only sorry for him. 
Full of hope and courage, she was ready to 
grapple with the situation, which her age and 
experience did not fully fit her to understand. 

“ I can teach music, teach a school, or do 
something else to support myself, father,” said 
Kate. 

“ It hasn’t come to that yet, Kate, for I am 
still able to support you,” replied Captain Bil- 
der, with a faint smile. “ I have lost all my 
own property, but I have lost that of no other 
person. I am still an honest man, and my 
friends have not lost confidence in me. When 
I had lost all, I did not run in debt. When I* 
have sold the horses, carriages, and furniture 


LofC. 


100 


OCEAN-BORN. 


we no longer need, 1 hope to be able to i)ay all 
I owe in this city. Then I shall be a free man, 
though a poor one.” 

I am glad it is no worse,” added Kate. 

“It is bad enough ; but I am still an honest 
man, and I shall pay every dollar I owe.” 

Some people would have regarded the honest 
captain as a sort of fanatic, because he paid the 
debts incurred in his speculation, rather than 
cheat his creditors or continue his operations 
after all his means were gone. No doubt ho 
was a remarkably honest man for these degene- 
rate times. 

“ What shall you do, father ? ” asked Kate. 

“ I shall go to sea again after I have closed 
my affairs here, or as soon as I can get a ship,” 
replied her father. “1 am not an old man, and 
I hope to retrieve myself yet. I must find you 
a good place to board, and I hope you will i 
make the best of our altered circumstances.” j 

“ O, I shall, father ! You need not worry 1 
about me.” j 

“ I shall be happy if you are, my child,” added j 
♦the captain, wiping away a tear, for he felt that 
the blow fell almost entirely on his daughter. • 


OCEAN-BORN. 


101 


He was old and tough ; she was young and 
tender, and had been brought up in affluence 
and luxury. It would be hard for her, and he 
wept only for her sake. They talked longer 
about the future, but at last the conversation 
turned upon the steamer which had brought 
Kate to her home., 

“You said you used to call your little boy 
the Ocean-Born, father,” said Kate. 

“ I did, sometimes, as a pleasantry. He was 
born on the China Seas. I named him after my 
best friend, who was part owner of the ship in 
which I sailed; and his initials were those of 
‘ Ocean-Born,’ ” replied Captain Bilder. “ How- 
ever, anybody else may have used the term as 
well as 1. It was more strange that the young 
man in charge of the steam-yacht should have 
had the name of my mate.” 

“ It is, certainly, very odd ; and he says that 
Neil Brandon was his father’s name, as well as 
his own.” 

“ Perhaps his father was my mate,” mused 
Captain Bilder. “ He was a good man in the 
main, but violent and revengeful at times. I 
will inquire into the matter when I see the 
young man again.” 


102 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ I have not heard you speak of my little 
brother for years, father,” continued Kate. 

“You know the story, my child,” replied her 
father, with something like a shudder. 

“Not the whole of it ; or, at least, I have 
forgotten part of it,” she added ; and perhaps 
the incidents of the steam yacht had given her 
some new idea. 

“It is a very sad story, and the loss of the 
little hoy was one of the most afflicting experi- 
ences of my whole life. It was only equalled 
at the death of your mother, when you were 
only three years old.” 

“Won’t you tell me all about my little 
brother once more, and I never will ask you to 
do so again, for I know it is very sad to you ? ” 
asked Kate. 

“ Perhaps it is well that I should repeat the 
story to you, for I must go to sea again in a 
few weeks.” 

Kate shuddered, for her father meant that 
he might never return, though he did not say 
this. 

“I wish you to know all the facts in the 
case, and when you have time, I wish you would 


OCEAN-BORN. 


103 


write them down, and let me correct the paper 
before I go away.” 

“ I will, father. I will take notes as you go 
along,” added the daughter, seating herself at 
the little cabinet desk in the library, where she 
wrote her school exercises and her letters. 

“ Your little brother’s name was Oscar Blake 
Bilder,” the captain began. “ He was born, as 
I said, on the China Seas. I could give you 
the latitude and longitude by referring to my 
old log-books. You Avere born in New York, 
Avhen Oscar was two years old. Your mother 
was never willing that I should leave her, even 
for a few weeks; but when I was to make a 
voyage around the world, she insisted upon go- 
ing with me. My last voyages were in the 
Coriolanus. I owned half of her, and Oscar 
Blake the other half, and your mother went 
with me in her when you were only eighteen 
months old. She had a nurse for the children, 
Avhose name was Marguerite, a French woman, 
whom I engaged in New Orleans, where I 
loaded the Coriolanus with cotton for Liverpool. 
She was a capital nurse, and we thought every- 
thing of her. 


104 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ The mate of the ship was Neil Brandon. I 
shipped him in New York, and never knew 
where he belonged. I had a large, roomy cabin, 
and we were as happy at sea as we should have 
been on shore. Brandon had been my mate for 
two voyages before this one, and I had every 
confidence in him. He was the best mate I 
ever had till Marguerite came on board, and I 
had often told him he should be the master of 
the Goriolanus as soon as I left her, which I 
intended to do after this voyage. I soon dis- 
covered that he was enamoured of the nurse, 
who was always on deck with the children in 
fine weather. She was about twenty-five years 
old, and a very good girl indeed. The mate 
began to neglect his duties, and Marguerite to 
be less careful of the children. Between them j 
both I was afraid that some accident would ! 

Ik 1 

happen to you and your little brother. I sharply 
reproved Brandon ; he did not take my rebuke ■ 
kindly, but was sulky, cross, and indifferent i 

about his duties. Finally, I removed him at i 
Hong Kong, putting in his place the master of 
an Indiaman who had lost his ship in a typhoon. 
Brandon staid about the ship till we were ready 


OCEAN-BORN. 


105 


to sail for home, and insisted upon returning in 
her. I told him he could make the voyage only 
as a seaman. lie onl}^ desired to be near Mar- 
guerite ; and this was the very thing I could not 
permit, for I felt that his presence endangered 
the lives of my children, — as your mother was 
then an invalid. I took him before the consul, 
and formally discharged him for insubordination 
and gross neglect of duty. I left him at Hong 
Kong, and though I never saw him again, I 
learned that he had arrived in New York three 
days before me when the Coriolanus reached that 
port. Before we parted, he swore he would 
ruin me. 

“ Captain Waters, who had come from China 
with me as my mate, wanted a ship, and I 
decided to give him the Coriolanus at New 
Orleans, where she was to load with cotton for 
Liverpool. I was obliged to go to New Orleans 
in order to settle up my business there. I wanted 
to leave your mother and the children in New 
York, but she would not think of a separation 
even for a month. She was in better health at 
sea than on shore, and felt quite at home in the 
cabin. During our stay in the great city. Mar- 


106 


OCEAN-BORN. 


guerite was absent nearly every evening, and I 
have no doubt she met Brandon. We had a 
fine trip to New Orleans, but I saw that your 
mother was rapidly failing, and I was in a hurry 
to return to our home in New York, where I 
could obtain the best medical attendence for her. 
She preferred to go by steamer to Cincinnati, 
and Ave started. ^ 

“ I had the two best state-rooms on the boat. 
Your mother and I had one, and you were with 
us ; and the other was occupied by Marguerite 
and your little brother. On the first night of 
the trip, I Avas aAvakened at midnight by a 
shrill scream from the nurse. I rushed into her 
room, and found her crying, groaning, and 
tearing her hair like an insane person. Finally, 
she told me that your little brother was gone. 
She Avas nearly distracted, and so Avas I, for I 
could not make her tell me what had happened. 
I had seen my little boy in his berth at eight 
o’clock, and kissed him — it Avas the last time. 
After a Avhile I Avrung it out of Marguerite 
that she had got up to shut the door of the 
state-room, — for the evening had been intensely 
hot, and I had told her to leave it partly open. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


107 


When she went to his berth to put more clotlics 
on him, she found the boy was not there ; and 
then she had screamed, she was so terrified. 
She had no idea what had become of him. She 
had retired herself at about ten o’clock, just 
as the boat was leaving a wood-yard, where it 
had stopped for half an hour to ‘wood up,’ and 
had immediately dropped asleep. The chill air, 
caused by a change in the weather, had waked 
her, she said; and this was all she knew about 
the matter. 

“ I called the captain, and I think every 
person on board was aroused by the search 
instituted for the little boy. He certainly was 
not on board of the steamer. The captain ran 
back to the wood yard where the boat had 
stopped. There was nothing there but the cabin 
of the woodman, and he had not seen the child, 
or any one else except the deck-hands of the 
steamer. Your little brother had either left his 
room and fallen into the river, or some one had 
stolen him. I shall not attempt to describe the 
anguish of your mother in her feeble condition, 
or my own sufferings as I thought of my dar- 
ling boy. We left- the boat when she arrived at 


108 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Belton Rouge, the next morning, and I obtained 
a steamer with a force of twenty men, in order 
to renew the search. Not to dwell on the 
details, I spent a fortnight on the river. There 
was not a white man or a negro within twenty 
miles of that wood-yard who was not seen and 
questioned ; but no clew whatever could be 
obtained to the lost child. 

“I returned to New York only when the 
alarming condition of your mother’s health 
absolutely required ; but I employed the best 
detectives in the country to continue the search. 
I til ought if the boy had been drowned, his 
little form might be found ; but it never was. 
If he had been stolen, it had been done in 
order to obtain money of me ; but I was ready to 
give all that was asked to recover my darling 
child. I watched with this hope for years, but 
I have never heard anything to encourage me.” 

“What do you think became of him, father? ” 
asked Kate, breathless with interest. 

“ I have to believe that he was drowned, and 
that 'his little body was carried out to sea by 
the swift current, or, or — or that something 
else happened to it,” replied Captain Bilder, 


OCEAN-BCRN. 


109 


with a shudder ; but he meant that it had been 
consumed by the fishes. 

There was a pause for some time; but at last 
the captain went to a bock-case and took from 
a drawer an envelope. 


110 


OCEAN-BORN. 


CHAPTER VI. 

THE LONG-LOST. 

^t'T'TTHAT became of Marguerite, father?” 

V y aaked Kate, as Captain Bilder seated 
himself in the arm-chair, with the envelope in 
his hand. 

“ Shortly after our return to New York, your 
mother died,” replied her father. “ Her grief at 
the loss of her little boy aggravated her disease, 
so that the skill of the doctors was unavailing. 
She died a month after her arrival in the city. 
We had a house and Marguerite remained to 
take care of you. I employed a Mrs. Banford 
as my housekeeper, who came to Belfast when 
I bought this place. She lived with me five 
years. But I suppose you do not remember 
her.” 

“No, father, I do not.” 

“ Marguerite came here with us ; but she was 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Ill 


not contented, and wanted to go back to her 
friends in New Orleans. She was a faithful 
nurse, and. I desired very much to retain her. 
1 could not blame her for the loss of my little 
boy, for she seemed to be almost as much grieved 
as the child’s mother. The door of the state- 
room was left open b}^ my own order, and I 
could only blame myself. Marguerite would not 
stay in Belfast, and I had to consent to her 
leaving. She left for New York with the inten- 
tion of going to New Orleans. I suppose she 
did ; but I never heard a word from her from 
that day to this.” 

“ But did you never hear anything about the 
little boy?” asked Kate, who had an indistinct 
remembrance of something. 

“ 1 was going to tell you, my child,” added 
Captain Bilder, opening the envelope in his hand, 
and taking a note from it. “Ten years ago I 
received this letter, which appears to have been 
written by a woman. I will read it to you. 

“ ‘ Captain Bilder : Your little boy was 
not drowned. He is still liveing. Some time 
he might go to you. He is well brought up. 
He lives with rich folkes, who love him verry 


112 


OCEAN-BORN. 


much. They will do everything for him. He 
thinks his father is dead. I said some time he 
might go to you. I do not know as he will. 
If he does, he will give you one of three peaces 
of a card, which have six lines of writing on it. 
I send to you the middle pence of the card. 
Your son vill fetch to you the left hand peace. 
On your son’s peace it is written where you will 
get the third peace. Your son may never go to 
you. If he does go, you will know it is your 
son by the first peace of card, which just fits 
your peace.’ 


“ There was no signature to this note, and it 
was evidently written in 
a disguised hand. It 
was penned by an illit- 
erate person, or by one 
who pretended to be so. 

A few words are spelled 
wrong. Here is the piece 
of card which came in 
the letter,” continued 
Captain Bilder, as he 
handed the piece of paste- 
board to Kate. 

It was irregular in its shape,, as may be seen 
in the diagram. It had been cut in the three 



OCEAN-BORN. 


113 

pieces after the six lines had been written upon 
it, and was cut so as to divide most of the 
words and some of the letters. When the other 
parts should be produced, it would be impossible 
to make any mistake in regard to their iden- 
tity. 

“ I see the six lines of writing,” said Kate, 
with the most intense interest. 

“Yes; and I can supply the words and letters 
which are on the other parts of the card,” added 
her father. 

“ The first line is the name of your ship — 
‘ Coriolanus ; ’ the next is ‘andon.’” 

“Neil Brandon, without a doubt ; and the 
‘ m ’ under it is the first letter of the word 
mate.” 

“ The third line must be your name, father ; 
but there is another m after it.” 

“Yes, a capital, the initial of ‘ Master.’ The 
fourth line is not so clear. The second word 
is ‘ Brandon,’ and the ‘ te ’ is the end of ‘ Mar- 
guerite.’ ” 

“ Then the mate married the nurse ? ” 

“ I suppose he did. The fifth line has only 
a single word, underscored, which was Mar- 
8 


114 


OCEAN-BORN. 


guerite’s last name. The word ‘ formerly ’ may 
be before it, or something implying the same 
thing. If the card means anything, we must 
infer that Marguerite Lardier was married to 
Brandon.” 

“But were they married, father?” 

“ I don’t know. She never said a word to 
me or your mother about Brandon, after he was 
discharged. Whether she saw him in New 
York, while we were there, I have no means 
of knowing. When this letter came to me, ten 
years ago, I had a long talk with Mrs. Banford 
about it, for she was my housekeeper then.” 

“Where is she now?” asked Kate. 

“ She went to California to live with her 
brother, about a year after this letter came. I 
have never heard a word from her or of her.” 

“ The last line is written back-handed,” added 
the daughter. 

“ That must be the little boy’s name in full 
— ‘Oscar Blake Bilder.’ Whoever wrote this 
card knows all about me and my affairs.” 

“ Who do you think it was, father ? ” 

“ I can form no idea. After the search I 

made on the Mississippi River, I can hardly 


OCEAN-BORN. 


115 


believe the boy was stolen, as the letter and 
card imply that he was At first I was inclined 
to think it was a scheme to extort mone}^ from 
me. But as no one has yet appeared with the 
first part of the card, I concluded long ago that 
it was a heartless joke by some enemy, who 
knew the story of my life.” 

“ Perhaps Marguerite wrote the letter,” sug- 
gested Kate. 

“ She had no motive for doing so.” 

“.Possibly she had. Do yoii know her hand- 
writing ? ” 

“ I never saw any of it. I don’t even know 
that she could write.” 

“ This card indicates that she became the wife 
of Neil Brandon, your mate,” continued Kate. 
“ He may have induced her to write it.” 

“It may be. And I am confident that the 
one who wrote the note also wrote the card ; 
for, though the hand is disguised, certain letters 
are just alike in both.” 

“You said Neil Brandon swore he would 
ruin you if he could,” added Kate. 

“ I am ruined ; but he did not do it.” 

“But perhaps he stole your little boy.” 


11 j OCEAN'BOEN. 

“ I have thought of that before ; but T can 
hardly reconcile the deed with what I know of 
the man, or with the facts of the case. Perhaps 
he was wicked enough to do it ; but if he had 
been near the Mississippi, I think the detectives 
would have obtained some clew to him.” 

“A young man at the door wishes to see-you, 
sir,” said a servant, at the door of the library. 

“ Who is he ? ” asked Captain Bilder. 

“ I don’t know, sir.” 

“ Tell him I am busy, and can’t see him now,” 
added the captain. 

The servant retired, but presently returned 
with Mr. McGusher’s ample pasteboard in her 
hand. 

“ This is the young man’s card, he says ; and 
he has come all the way from New York to see 
you on very important business,” said she. 

“Arthur McGusher,” added Captain Bilder, 
reading from the card. “ He seems to be a 
drummer. But send him in, for I believe I have 
finished my storj^, Kate.” 

“A drummer? What’s that, father?” asked 
the daughter ; but before the captain could ex- 
plain, Mr. McGusher was shown into the room. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


117 


“ I beg your pawdon.” the young gentleman 
began, with an extensive flourish and a very 
reverential bow ; “ have I the honaw to addAvess 
Captain Bilder ? ” 

“ That’s my name ; and you are Mr. Arthur 
McGusher, I suppose,” added the ship-master, 
glancing at the card in his hand. 

“ I have the honaw,” said the representative 
of Hewlins & Heavybones, with another pro- 
found obeisance. 

Take a seat, Mr. McGusher.” 

Mr. McGusher took a seat. Possibly he was 
a student of art, and had critically studied the 
positions of all the sitting statues, and all the 
figures in the pictures, though it is not probable 
that he had done so. At any rate, his posture 
was not entirely accidental. He arranged him- 
self gracefully in the chair, as though he had 
practised sitting down in the attic of the cheap 
boarding-house where he lived. He wore yelloAv 
gloves, and carried a light cane. Kate looked 
at him with the same interest she would have 
bestowed upon the funny actor in a play ; and, 
in spite of the sadness Avith which her father’s 
story had filled her, she Avas inclined to laugh, 
or at least to smile. 


118 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“Perhaps I had better inform you in the 
beginning that I am not in business of any 
kind, as you seem to be a drummer,” said Cap- 
tain Bilder, when the visitor had adjusted him- 
self to his own satisfaction in the chair. 

“Not a dwummaw, saw — I beg your paw- 
don,” promptly interposed Mr. McGusher. “ I 
do not wait upon you as the wepwesentative of 
the commawcial house in which I have the 
honaw to be engaged. My business is entirely 
pawsonal and pwivate.” 

“Well, sir, what is your business?” 

“ I will pwoceed Avith it without any unneces- 
sawy delay. You had a son. Captain Bilder.” 

Kate was startled, the ship-master frowned, 
and the visitor paused to note the effect of his 
sudden announcement. 

“ Who told you I had ? ” demanded the cap- 
tain. ^ 

“ One who knows, saw.” 

“ Who was he? ” added Captain Bilder, sharply, 
for he regarded the young man’s answer as an 
evasion. 

“I beg your pawdon ; I don’t know, saw,” 
replied Mr. McGusher, rather disturbed by the 
sharp tone of the ship-master. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Ill) 


“ You don’t know ! Somebody told you, but 
you don’t know who ! ” 

“ I beg your pawdon ; I didn’t say somebody 
told me. I received the information in a lettaw 
signed ‘ One who Knows.’ ” 

“ An anonymous letter.” 

“ Anonymous, if you please, saw. I do not 
know who wote it. I did not wite it.” 

“Where did you get it?” 

“ I found it in the stoaw one morning thwee 
weeks ago. It was addwessed to Mr. Awthur 
McGushaw which is my name.” 

“Did it come to you by mail?” 

“No, saw; it came by pwivate hand; at 
least, there was no post-mawk on it. The let- 
taw was a most extwaordinawy one.” 

“You were informed in it that I had a son 
— were you?” asked Captain Bilder, wondering 
what the young fellow was driving at. 

“Not in tawms, saw — only by infewence. 
The lettaw infawmed me that I was the son of 
Captain Wichard Bilder ; and if I was your son, 
why, of course, you had a son. I think the 
infewence was justifiable,” replied Mr. McGusher, 
whose face wore a triumphant expression. 


120 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


“ The letter informed you that you were my 
son ! ” exclaimed Captain Bilder. 

“ That is pwecisely what it mfawmed me,” 
answered the young man, taking from the 
breast pocket of his coat the letter. “ I have it 
here, saw.” 

Let me see it.” 

“ I beg your pawdon: but will youpawmit me 
to wead it to you ? ” 

“ Let me see it first.” 

“ Will you pawdon me if I decline to do so 
for the pwesent ? This lettaw is a very impaw- 
tant one to me.” 

“ It seems to be a very important one to me, 
also.” 

“ I beg your pawdon ; but it is my pwopawty, 
and I pwefaw to wetain it for the pwesent. 
You are a stwangaw to me. Captain Bilder ; 
though it seems to be dooced odd that one’s 
own fawther should be a stwanger to him ; but I 
know you to be a vewy wespectable gentleman. 
As you are a stwangaw I don’t know that you 
evaw had a son. You have not said you had. 
If you nevaw had a son, wh}^, of cawse, I can’t 
be your son, whatever One who Knows may wite 
to me.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


121 


“Do let him read the letter, father,” Kate 
interposed, more willing than the ship-master 
that the visitor should proceed in his own way. 

“Thank you. Miss Bildaw — I pwesume I 
have the honaw of speaking to Miss Bildaw, 
whom I should be pwoud to acknowledge as my 
sister,” said Mr. McGusher, with a graceful bow, 
and a smile as soft as the smiler’s head. 

“ Go on,” replied the captain. 

“ If you nevaw had a son. Captain Bildaw, of 
course it would be a waste of your valuable 
time for me to wead the letter,” suggested Mr. 
McGusher. 

“ I had a son, who is believed to have been 
drowned when he was four years old,” added 
the ship-master. 

“ Not dwowned, saw. I am that son,” said 
the young man, placing one of his yellow- 
gloved hands on the place where his heart 
belonged, and bestowing a look of unutterable 
affection upon the captain and his daughter. 

“ Read the letter ! ” said the ship-master, 
sternly. 

“I will wead it at once,” rephed Mr. McGusher, 
opening the letter, and taking from it something 
which he placed in his vest pocket. 


122 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


We ijhsill give the letter as it was written, 
and not as the young man read it, for it would 
he quite impossible for dull types to give it any 
of the eloquent flourish he gave it. Mr. Mc- 
Gusher rose for the effort, and placed his hat 
and cane on a chfdr. Perhaps he could not he 
eloquent in a sitting posture, however graceful 
it might be. The letter was as follows : — 

‘‘ Mr. Arthur McGusher. Dear Sir : I 
want to do justice to the living and the dead ; 
hut I have not the courage to face the indig- 
nation of those I have wronged, or to take the 
penalty of my transgression. 

“ The man whom you supposed to be your 
father was not your father. You were stolen 
from your parents when you were four 3^ears 
old. The one who did this is now dead — has 
been dead for many years. I am guilty only 
of concealing my knowledge of the truth. The 
name of the man who took you from a steam- 
boat on the Mississippi River was Neil Brandon. 
He has been dead at least ten years. He carried 
you to England. He and his wife claimed }()u 
as their owir child. He left you in Liverj-ool 
with a man of your name, — Mr. McGusher, — 
who came to America thirteen years ago. He 
told me all I know about you ; and I ought to 
have told your real father; but I did not. I 
am guilty ; but I hope to be forgiven. 

“ Captain Richard Bilder, who lives in Belfast, 
Maine, is your real father. I send you a piece 



iNlii. jMcGushek kose for the Effort. Page 122. 







OCEAN-BORN. 


123 


of a card, which you will give to your father 
when you go to him. He will know what it 
means. You were stolen from your parents the 
first night after they left New Orleans. Neil 
Brandon did it. Your father is a very rich man, 
}i:id I hope you will be happy with him. It 
will only be necessary to give your father the 
])iece of card. He will know you are his son 
by this. I have kept this secret for many years. 
It has been like a coal of fire in my soul. If 
you ask how I know that you are the son of 
Captain Richard Bilder, of Belfast, Maine, I 
will answer that Mr. McGusher told me so on 
his death-bed. He said that Neil Brandon gave 
him a hundred pounds to take care of the boy 
till he was able to work and support himself. 
With this money he came to America. He 
boarded with me (a year, erased), and died in 
my house. I could not take care of you, and I 
sent you to the Orphan Asylum. But I have 
kept watch of you ever since. Some time I may 
make myself known to you ; but I dare not do 
so yet. All that I have Avritten is true ; and I 
am “ One who Knows.” 

Captain Bilder and Kate hstened with the 
most intense interest to the reading of this 
rambling letter. Kate had suggested before that 
Neil Brandon might have stolen her little brother 
in revenge for being discharged from the Corio- 
lanus, and thus losing the command of her at 
a future time. The explanation of the mystery 


124 


OCEAN-BORN. 


contained in the letter was plausible to her. 
Her father was silent, and was evidently weigh- 
ing and comparing the statements made in the 
letter. 

“ I have finished the lettaw, saw,” said Mr. 
McGusher, who stood ready to throw himself 
into the arms of the ship-master, and more 
especially into the arms of his lovely daughter : 
but there was no demonstration on the part of 
either of them. 

Captain Bilder did not even ask for the piece 
of the card alluded to in the epistle. He didn’t 
get excited worth a cent. He didn’t say a word 
about “ my long-lost son, come to my arms ! ” 
Mr. McGusher could not understand his coolness 
and self-possession. It was not exactly the way 
a long-lost son ought to be received, in his 
opinion. 

“ How old are j'ou, Mr. McGusher ? ” asked 
Captain Bilder, after a long silence. 

‘‘I don’t know, saw. You ought to know 
bettaw than I,” replied the long-lost. 

“How old do you think you are?” 

“ As neaw as I can figaw it, I am eighteen.” 

“ Where do you live when you are at home ? 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


125 


“In New Yawk city.” 

“ What part of the city ? ” 

“ I bawd in Twenty-Second Stweet.” 

“How long have you boarded there?” 

“ About thwee yeaws.” 

“ Will you let me see that letter ? ” asked 
Captain Bilder, extending his hand for the docu- 
ment. 

“ I beg your pawdon, saw. Some fellaw in 
the Scwipchaw sold his bawthwight for a mess 
of potash. If h‘s bawthwight was in the fawm 
of a lettaw like this, he oughtn’t to have sold 
it for all the potash in the wawld — not if the 
soap-boiling business Avas wuined by it. But 
you are a vewy wespectable pawson, Captain 
Bilder. If you will give me your wawd that 
you will westaw the lettaw to me, I will submit 
it for your inspection.” 

“ I will give it back to you,” answered the 
ship-master. 

Captain Bilder examined the letter, Kate 
looking over his shoulder as he did so. It was 
in a woman’s handwriting, and it was plain that 
she was a person of some culture, for the spell- 
ing was good, and the capitals Avere rightly 


126 


OCEAN-BORN. 


used. The writer was a person of mature age. 
The repetitions and the rambling character of I 
the letter were evidently intended, and the pen- j 
manship was hardly the writer’s usual hand, j 
But a person writing such a letter would naturally 
seek to conceal his agency in the matter. 

“ This was not written by the person who sent 
me the piece of card,” said Captain Bilder, in a 
low tone, as he compared the two letters. 

“ But it is very strange,” whispered Kate. 

“Very strange; but I can’t believe that fel- ; 
low is my son.” | 

“ I don’t wish to believe he is my brother,” j 
added Kate. 

If Mr. McG usher heard an}^ of this conversa- 
tion, it was not intended for his ear ; and, per- 
haps to avoid anything disagreeable, he saun- 
tered over to a window which looked out upon 
the garden. 

“ This letter says you were sent to an Orphan 
Asylum,” continued Captain Bilder, renewing 
the charge upon the long-lost. 

“Yes, saw;” replied Mr. McGusher, resuming 
his chair in front of the ship-master and his 
daughter. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


127 


“What institution was it?” 

“An Awphan Asylum Avhere they take in 
small children who have no paweiits — you know.” 

“I know,” added the captain, biting his 
lip. “But ’what was the name of the institu- 
tion ? ” 

“The name?” 

'‘Was it the New York Orphan Asylum, the 
Leake and Watts Orphan House, or the Colored 
Orphan Asylum ? ” 

“Colored!” gasped Mr. McGusher. “I’m 
not a pawson of colaw, Captain Bildaw.” 

“ Was it either of the other institutions I 
mentioned?” demanded the ship -master. 

“ I don’t know, saw,” replied the long-lost, 
blankly, 

“ You don’t know ? ” 

“ I do not, saw. That lettaw is all the infaw- 
mation I have on the subject.” 

“How long were you in the asylum?” 

“ I have no means of knowing.” 

“Don’t you remember anything about it?” 

“ I wemember nothing about it, from which I 
infawthat I was taken from the institution at a 
vewy tendaw age.” 


128 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“Very tender, I should judge. In a word, 
Mr. McGusher, I wish to test the truth of the 
statements in this letter.’’ 

“You are vewy cwitical, Captain Bilder.” 

“ Critical ! ” exclaimed the captain, angrily. 
“ Do you think I am going to accept a monkey 
like you as my son on no better evidence than 
this letter?” 

“ Monkey ! Is this the weception to give a 
son, when he comes home to the patawnal 
woof I ” exclaimed Mr. McGusher, utterly dis- 
gusted. 

“ Again: this letter says your father is a very 
rich man. I want to say now that I have lost 
all my property. I am hot worth a dollar in 
the world. If you should prove to be my son, 
which I grant is possible, you will have to go 
to work, as I must, and earn your own living.” 

Mr. McGusher opened his eyes, and looked 
more disgusted than ever; but, concluding that 
the last appalling statement of his “long-lost 
father ” was a joke, intended to test his filial 
sentiment, he did not retire from the field. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


129 


CHAPTER VII. 


MR. MCGUSHER’s bad MEMORY. 


6 4 APTAIN WICH ARD BILDER, of Bel- 



fast, Maine, wich or poowah, you are 


my honawed fawther I ” exclaimed Mr. Arthur 
McGusher. “ I feel it in my blood and bones. 
It can’t be othawwise.” 

“ Perhaps it can.” 

“ Impawsiblo ! If you are pooaw, so am I. 
Though I have seen bettaw days, I have been 
cwadled in the lap of povawty. I know what 
it is to suffaw for the want of an opewa ticket. 
I know what it is to wear a pair of spwing 
twousaws late in the autumn. I know what it 
is to see fawst hawses, and not own them. I 
know how a pooaw man feels when he passes 
Delmonico’s up-town house.” 

“It is very affecting, Mr. McGusher,” said 
Kate, solemnly. 


130 


OCEAN-BORN-. 


“ My fawther, if thou art pooaw, I will wawk 
with thee and faw thee ! ” gushed the long- 
lost. 

“ Very well, my boy ; I shall go to sea, and 
I think you had better go into the fo’castle, 
crawl through the hawse-hole, as I did. I’ll 
make a sailor of you.” 

“ In the fo’cawstle ! The smell of the taw 
would make me sick. But — ” 

“ Never mind that now. I should like to look 
into your antecedents before I acknowledge you 
as my son,” interposed Captain Bilder. 

“ Had your long-lost son no mawks on his 
pawson ? no mole under the left ear ? no bawth- 
mawk on his right &houldaw?” 

“Not a mark, that I know of ; but his nose 
was entirely different from yours.” 

“ Have you no po’twait of the little one ? ” 

“ None.” 

Mr. McGusher seemed to derive new strength 
and encouragement from these answers, and l.is 
face bore no expression of disappointment at tlie 
acknowledged absence of any means of identify- 
ing the long-lost. 

“ I must have changed in fawteen yeaws,” lie 
added. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


131 


“ Of course ; though the shape of one’s nose 
undergoes no great alteration. Have you the 
card alluded to in the letter?” asked Captain 
Bilder. 

“ I have the cawd ; ” and Mr. McGusher took 
the pasteboard from his pocket. 

He laid it upon the table. It was the left- 
hand piece, and the ship-master placed the mid- 
dle part by the side of it. The edge of the one 
exactly fitted the irregular edge of the other. 
The material of both portions was the same ; the 
writing was identical ; and the words and letters 


c 

^bCOV 






divided where the card was cut fitted each othei- 
perfectly. Captain Bilder and Kate were very 


132 


OCEAN-BORN. 


much surprised. The middle portion of the card 
1 ad come into the ship-master’s possession ten 
years before. After the lapse of this long period, 
the second piece had come, fully answering the 
description of it contained in the letter enclos- 
ing the first. 

“ Turn the left-hand piece over, father. The 
letter that came with the middle piece says the 
name of the person who had the right hand 
piece would be found on the back of the one 
your son was to bring to you,” said Kate. 

Captain Bilder turned the part indicated, and 
found an address written upon it, in the same 
hand as the first letter. 

“ ‘ Borden Green & Co., Bankers, New York,’ ” 
said he, reading from the back of the card. 
“Borden Green & Co. were my bankers when 
I went to sea. This business was certainly man- 
aged by some one who knew all about my af- 
fairs.” 

“ I beg your pawdon. Captain Bildaw, but 
the business has not been managed at all. I 
know pawsitively nothing about the mattaw ex- 
cept what I have lawned from this lettaw. I 
have seen no pawson, spoken to no pawson,” 
protested Mr. McGusher. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


133 


“Are you quite sure of that?” 

“ Do you doubt my wawd ? ” demanded the 
long-lost, with dignity. 

“If I don’t doubt your word, I can’t take it 
in a case of this kind,” replied Captain Bilder, 
decidedly. 

Is it pawsible my wawd is wawth so little ? ” 

“I don’t know what is possible; and I don’t 
know that I care. If you can tell me of what 
Orphan Asylum you were an inmate, I may 
take the trouble to look the matter up,” said 
the ship-master. 

“ But, saw, I don’t know. I have no maw 
ideaw than yawself. You see, I don’t wemem- 
baw anything about the institootion,” Mr. Mc- 
Gusher explained. 

“ You don’t remember? ” 

“No, saw : that pawt of my existence is all a 
blank.” 

“How long since you left the asylum?” 

“ How can I tell. Captain Bildaw, when I 
don’t wemembaw the asylum at all?” 

“ How long have you boarded in Twenty- 
Second Street ? ” 


“ Thwee yeaws, saw.” 


134 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ And you think you are about eighteen years 
old now ? ” 

“ I infaw it fwom the lettaw. ” 

“My son, if living, would be eighteen.” ; 

“Then that must be my age,” added the long- J 
lost, complacently. 

“You were stolen when you were four years : 
old, the letter says.” ! 

“ I believe it, saw.” I 

“You were taken to England, and left with a | 
man by the name of McGusher,” continued i 

Captain Bilder, referring to the letter. 

“ Yes, saw. How many times have I wead ] 
this inta westing fact ! ” i 

“ And McGusher brought you to America j 

thirteen years ago ? ” 

“ Undoubtedly, saw.” 

“ How old were you then ? ” 

“ Five, saw,” answered Mr. McGusher, after 
studying a little while upon the problem. 

“ Can’t you remember what happened when 
you were five years old ? ” 

“Not an event, saw.” 

“ I can, and that is fifty years ago.” 

“ Then yaw memowy is bettaw than mine.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


135 


“ Very well. After you came to America, it 
appears that the man who had you in his care 
boarded with the writer of this letter till he 
died. They seem to have been well acquainted ; 
and we will suppose that he had lived with her 
one year when he died.’’ 

“ I beg your pawdon ; but it might not have 
been thwee months,” Mr. McGusher interposed, 
evidently feeling that he ought to dispute the 
position of the captain. 

“I see that ‘a year’ is erased in the letter.” 

“If it had been a yeaw, she would not have 
ewased it.” 

“ Perhaps it was not just a year ; it may have 
been more or less ; but ‘ One who knows ’ would 
not have written it if it had not been about that 
time. Call it a year. How old were you then, 
Mr. McGusher?” 

“Six, I suppose,” replied the long-lost, rather 
vacantly, for he could not see where this line 
of reasoning would come out. 

“ Exactly so, Mr. McGusher. Now, can’t you 
remember when you Avere six years old?” asked 
the ship-master, sharply. 

“ Not a single thing, saw. I have twied to 


1C6 


OCEAN-BORN. 


wecall the events of those yeaws, but I have 
twied in vain. It is all a blank to me.” 

“Very singular! I don’t think another such 
a case ever occurred. No matter. Now, I sup- 
pose you staid in tlie Orphan Asylum some time 
— perhaps till you were twelve, say.” ^ 

“ Impossible, Captain Bildaw. I should we- 
member it if I had.” i 

“ I should say so. But you seem to have an j 
exceedingly bad memoiy for a young man of 
eighteen. Say two years, then, which Avould 
make you eight when you left.” 

‘‘But I think I can wemember when I was 
eight,” suggested the long-lost. i 

“ O, you can ! What and where were you 1 
then?” I 

“It is all vewy dweamy. I can only wecall 
the fact that I was a living being then.” , 

“ Your memory is most astonishingly dull.” i 

“ But it is pawsible, and even pwobable, that 
I was not at the institootion maw than a few 
months. Child wen aw often taken from that 
sawt of place when they aw only six or seven 
yeaws old. You see, people wh^ have no chil- ' 
dwen of their own go to these institootions and 


OCEAN-BORN. 


137 


take childwen to bwing up. They always take 
the pwettiest and most pwomising childwen ; 
and it is pwobable I was taken befoaw I had 
been in the asylum maw than a month or two.” 

“ Ah, Mr. McGusher, very likely. I had ^lot 
taken your beauty into consideration before.” 

“ Well, Captain Bilder, a man’s beauty is no 
cwedit to him. He can’t help it ; ” and the 
long-lost stroked his downy mustache. 

“ I am afraid we must admit that you were 
taken from the asylum when you were only six, 
Mr. McGusher.” 

“ I have no doubt of it, because, you see, if 
I had staid thaaw a yeaw or two, I should 
have wemembawed it.” 

“ I’m not so sure of that. But never mind 
the asylum. You have boarded three years in 
Twenty-second Street ? ” 

“^Thwee yeaws, saw.” 

“Where did you board before that? ’’-asked 
the captain quietly, as he looked out the window. 

“Before that?” repeated Mr. McGusher. 

“Yes: where did you board four years ago?” 

“ Faw years ago ? ” 

Possibly Mr. McGusher had not prepared 


138 


OCEAN-BORN. 


himself for examination in this important era 
of his personal history. At any rate, he hesi- 
tated. 

“You don’t answer me,” said the captain. 

“ I was thinking. Faw yeaws ago.” 

“ Certainly you can tell where you boarded or 
lived before you went to your present place,” 
added Captaii Bilder, sharply.” 

“ O, is that what you mean ? I lived in the 
countwy faw yeaws ago, replied Mr. McGusher, 
as cheerfully as though a new revelation had 
suddenly come to his darkened mind. “ I lived 
in the countwy faw yeaws ago.” 

“What country?” 

“Ha, ha, ha! Pwetty good!” laughed the 
long-lost. “ I only meant that I did not live in 
New Yawk. You see, I didn’t live in the city, 
but I lived in the countwy. That was the 
ideaw I meant to convey. I wesided in the 
wuwal distwicts.” 

“ Precisely so ; I fully comprehend you, Mr. 
McGusher. You lived in the country, and not 
in the city.” 

“ Exactly so ! I couldn’t have expwessed it 
bettaw myself.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


139 


“ Ver}'- well ; we are making some progress.” 

“Yes, saw ; some progwess we aw making. 
But you see, Captain Bildaw, it is not always 
easy to see what a fellaw means. You see, a 
fellaw may use the wawd countwy to mean the 
wuwal distwicts, when he don’t mean the city; 
or he may mean Asia, Africa, or some of those 
places so faw off that it makes a fellaw ’s head 
swim to think of them.” 

“ I understand : your explanation is very lucid. 
You lived in the country, as distinguished from 
the city. Now, perhaps you can inform me pre- 
cisely where you lived.” 

“ Of cawse I can,” replied Mr. McGusher, 
promptly. But the question seemed to bother 
him. “ It is the easiest thing in the wawld to 
tell whaw I lived.” 

“ Why don’t you tell me, then ? ” demanded 
the sliip -master. 

But Mr. McGuLdier still hesitated, and ap- 
peared to be considering the questions that 
would follow his answer, or the consequences 
of giving to himself a “ local habitation and a 
name.” 

“You see, I have been in the city only thwee 


140 


OCEAN-BORN. 


yeaws. I went into the lawge mawcantile es- 
tablishment of Messrs. Hewlins & Heavyhones 
as a boy, and wose to my pwesent position,” 
added the long-lost ; but he was evidently think- , 
ing of something else. ■ 

“ Perhaps you will be willing to inform me ] 
where you lived before you went there.” 

“ Sawtainly, saw ; with pleasaw,” answered 
VMr. McGusher. But he did not do it. “ When 
I went to the lawge mawcantile — ” 

“ I understand that part of your story per- 
fectly. You went there, and rose to your pre- 
sent position, which is very creditable to your 
ability, and illustrates the triumph of genius, 
perseverance, and industry. Now, will you tell j 
me where you lived ? ” | 

j 

“ Weally, it is so long since I left the place, j 
that I have almost forgotten the name of it.” ’ 
“ I am afraid you have quite forgotten it.” | 
“No, saw. The place was Goshen ; not the j 
Goshen mentioned in the Scwipchaw, but Goshen i 
in the State of New York. It is in Owange ■ 
County, on the Ewie Wailwoad, seventy miles | 
fwom New Yawk City; population ovaw thwee ' 
thousand ; and they make much nice buttaw 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Ill 


there. I daw say you have hawd of Goshen 
buttaw, Captain Bilder,” said Mr. McGusher. 

“ I think I have.” 

“ You see, that isn’t the kind of buttaw they 
use in cheap bawding-houses. They keep cows 
out there.” 

‘‘ Indeed ! ” 

“ Fact, saw. I’ve seen them myself. The 
cows give milk, and — ” 

“ I shall not dispute any of your facts. But 
I should hke to ask with whom you lived in 
Goshen.” 

“With whom? You want the man’s name, I 
suppose.” 

“Yes, if you happen to remember it: if you 
don’t, it’s of no great consequence.” 

“ Of cawse I wemember it. How could I live 
with a man, and not wemember his name?” 

“ Sure enough ! But your memory has played 
you some shabby tricks. Please to give me the 
name before you forget it.” 

“ I shall nevaw fawget it. It would be quite 
impawsible to forget it.” 

“ What was it, then ? ” 

“ I lived with Mr. Chessman,” answered the 


142 


OCEAN-BORN. 


long-lost; and he evidently gave the name with 
many misgivings as to the result. 

“ Chessman. Thank you. Do you remember 
his first name ? ” 

“ Yes, saw ; his first name was Amos ; his sec- 
ond or middle name was Pewy ; and his whole 
name was Amos Pewy Chessman. 

“Amos P. Chessman, was it^’’ 

“Yes, saw.” 

“ Excellent ! Write that name down, Kate, 
before Mr. McGusher forgets it; also the town, 
county, and state.” 

Kate seated herself at her desk, and wrote the 
address in full. 

“ You see, Mr. Chessman didn’t live wight 
in the village. He was a fawmer, and had a 
fawm outside of the village. You see, they don’t 
have fawms in the village,” Mr. McGusher ex- 
plained. 

“Don’t they? Well, that’s odd!” laughed 
Captain Bilder. “ Does Mr. Chessman live there 
now ? ” 

“No, saw ; he does not live there now.” 

“ Where does he live ? ” 

“ You see, he don’t live anywhaw, now.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


143 


“ Don’t live anywhere ? ” 

“No, saw ; he’s dead now.” 

“ That’s unfortunate for him, if not for the 
rest of us.” 

“ It was dooced unfawtunate. He died of a 
tewible disease — the hydwophobia. You see, 
that’s the disease they get when they are bitten 
by dogs.” 

“Just so. I’ve heard of the disease.” 

“You see, Mr. Chessman had a dog. I got 
that dog when a puppy.” 

“You mean when the dog was a puppy,” 
suggested the ship -master. 

“To be suaw. I got that dog when a puppy. 
Of cawse the dog was a puppy. I never was a 
puppy. Puppies don’t go on two legs, and 
talk, and smile, and think, and have b wains.” 

“ Sometimes — all but the brains. But never 
mind the dog, Mr. McGusher. Mr. Chessman 
died — poor man ! — of hydrophobia ? ” 

“ He died after I left his house. I did not 
witness his painful stwuggles.” 

“You were spared that, fortunately. Did Mr. 
Chessman have a family? ” asked Captain Bilder. 

“Yes, saw — a wife and faw childwen.” 


144 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Of course they still live on the farm in 
Goshen.” I 

“No, saw, they don’t live’ on the fawm in 
Goshen,” replied the long-lost, with refreshing 
promptness. “When Mr. Chessman died, his 
wife couldn’t manage the fawm ; and they had 
to sell it to pay the debts.” 

“ I’m sorry for that. But what became of 
the family?” 

“ They went to Owegon, where Mrs. Chess- 
man had a bwother. I don’t know what pawt 
of Owegon; I only heard that she had gone to 
Owegon.” 

“ 1 hope she found a good home in Oregon ; 
but it’s of no consequence to the present inquiry 
whether she did or not, or even that she went ^ 

to Oregon. Of course, if I write to my friend, ; 

Borden Green, the banker, who has a country 
place, for aught I know, in Goshen, he will be 
able to ascertain all about Mr. Chessman and 
his family.” 

“ I’m afwaid not,” replied Mr. McGusher, i 
evidently somewhat disturbed by the suggestion. 
“You see, Mr. Chessman did not live in the 
'village.” 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


145 


“ That’s of no consequence. Green will find 
where he lived, if it was within ten miles of 
the village.” 

“But Mr. Chessman only lived there a shawt 
time.” 

“ Never mind ; if he lived there at all, and 
died there of hydrophobia, some one will re- 
member him.” 

“ Pawsibly.” 

“ I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Mc- 
Gusher, for this information ; and in a week or 
two I shall, doubtless, be able fully to confirm 
all you have stated.” 

“ I hope you will,” replied Mr. McGusher, 
rather blankly. 

“ I suppose Mr. Chessman took you from the 
Orphan Asylum.” 

“Weally, I don’t know, saw.” 

“You never happened to hear him or his 
wife state any such circumstance ? ” 

‘ “Nevaw.” 

“ Mr. Chessman appears to have been in debt 
when he died, so that his farm had to be sold. 
If he had four children of his own, why did 
he take a child from the asylum ? ” 

10 


146 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“Weally, I don’t know that he did take a 
child from the asylum,” protested the long-lost, 
warmly. 

“You don’t remember that part of your his- 
tory. You lived with Mr. Chessman, and you 
were in the asylum ; but it does not appear how 
you passed from one to the other. How long 
were you in Goshen ? ” 

“ Only a shawt time.” 

“But as long as Mr. Chessman lived there?” 

“ I suppose so.” 

“Where did he live before he moved to 
Goshen?” 

“ Weally, I don’t know the name of the place. 
It was in the countwy.” 

“But you must have been fourteen years old 
when you left that place.” 

“ Certainly I knew the place ; but it was an 
odd name. I shall think of it in a moment,” 
added Mr. McGusher, pounding his head, wliich 
seemed to be at fault, and deserved the casti- 
gation. “ Ah ! I have it ! Gwillingham ; that 
was the place. It is dooced odd that I forgot 
it for the moment.” 

“ Gwillingham ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


147 


“ Grillingham,” suggested Kate, who had 
noticed his shabby treatment of the rolling and 
trilling letter of the alphabet. 

“ That’s it, Miss Bildaw ; thank you. G Wil- 
lingham was what I said.” 

“ Where is Grillingham ? ” 

“Weally, I couldn’t tell you much about the 
place. I could descwibe it ; but I hawdly 
know where it is, except that it is in Sullivan 
County.” 

“ It’s of no consequence where it is. I am 
entirely satisfied with the information you have 
given me. My friend, Borden Green, the banker, 
will look up the case for me.” 

“Yes, saw ; and he has the piece of cawd 
which will complete the evidence,” added Mr. 
McGusher. 

“ And you really believe you are my long- 
lost son ? ” 

“ Do I believe it ? 1 know it ! I have always 

felt that I belonged in some highaw spheaw 
than I was in. I have aspiwations for some- 
thing highaw and noblaw than 1 have evaw 
seen,” said Mr. McGusher, with an appropriate 
gesture. 


148 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“We will leave the matter where it is for 
the present. But, as I told you before, I am a 
poor man ; and if you are my son, you must go 
to work, as I shall,” added the ship-master. 

“ I beg your pawdon ; but, don’t you think 
that the pieces of cawd settle the question ? ” 

“ They are strong evidence ; but in a matter 
of so much importance I desire to be sure.” 

“ Quite pwoper. Captain Bildaw. But in my 
own mind I have not a doubt, since you have 
the piece of cawd. I beg your pawdon ; but 
might I see you alone for a moment ? ” 

Kate left the room at this hint. 

“I beg your pawdon ; but, as thaw can be 
no doubt that I am your long-lost son, might I 
beg the favaw of the small loan of one hundwed 
dollaws ? ” Mr. McGusher proceeded. 

“ You have come to the wrong man for money. 
I have none,” replied the captain. 

“ My salary is small — only five dollars a week ; 
and it will hardly suppawt me I have not 
money enough to pay my expenses in Belfast 
while you are investigating the case.” 

Captain Bilder declined to advance any money, 
if he had any to advance ; but he invited Mr.. 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


140 


McGusher to the hospitality of his house while 
he continued to occupy it. Whatever he believed 
in regard to the claim of his guest, he desired 
to trace that remarkable letter and card to their 
source. In another hour, the long-lost was at 
home in the paternal mansion. 


150 


OCEAN-BOIiN. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE GRAND REVIEW. 

T he dinner party at the mansion of Captain 
Patterdale was a pleasant occasion; but 
Kate Bilder’s absence was very much felt by 
the guests, for she was a very pretty and a very 
lively girl. As the wind bad been very light, 
the yacht squadron did not arrive from their 
cruise below till noon, but in season to make 
arrangements for a grand review of all the yachts 
and boats of both clubs, which was to include 
an excursion to Turtle Head. The Ocean-Born 
was invited to participate, and Neil Brandon 
tendered the use of her to the clubs for the in- 
vited guests. Nellie Patterdale called upon Kate 
Bilder, and found both her and her father quite 
cheerful, in spite of their reverses. As Mr. Mc- 
Gusher was present, he had to be introduced, 
and had to be invited to the review. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


151 

“ It will affawd rae unbounded pleasyaw to 
be pwesent, Miss Pattawddale, and sun myself 
in the smiles of the beautiful young ladies of the 
pawty,” said Mr. McGusher, placing his right 
hand upon his heart, and bowing till his form 
was almost doubled. 

As Captain Bilder wished to see more of the 
captain of the Ocean-Born, he consented to be 
a guest, and Kate promised to take her place as 
leader in the Lily. At three o’clock the party 
invited were all on board of the steamer. The 
five boats of the Dorcas Club were pulling about' 
near Don John’s wharf, and the yachts, with 
their mainsails hoisted and their anchors hove 
up to a short stay, were lying near the shore. 
A gun from the Skylark, the commodore’s yacht, 
announced the commencement of the first part 
of the programme, which was the review of the 
boats of the Dorcas Club. The occasion was in 
honor of Captain Neil Brandon and the officers 
'of the Ocean-Born, who had rendered such im- 
portant service to members of both of the clubs. 

The Dorcas, Lily, Fairy, Psyche, and Undine 
were the five boats of the Dorcas Club. In each 
of them were five young ladies, all dressed in 


132 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


the uniform of the club. The leader sat in the 
stern, with the tiller-ropes in her hand. The 
boats dashed out from the shore in a single line. 
The girls pulled the measured man-of-war stroke, 
but the beautiful barges moved at great speed. 
They were about a boat’s length apart, and pre- 
served their distance with wonderful precision. 

The clubs had had a great deal of practice ; 
and, as all of them were deeply interested in 
the sport, their manoeuvres were almost perfect. 
They pulled out a considerable distance from the 
wharf, and, at a signal from the leader of the 
Dorcas, the fair rowists “ held water ” till the 
boats lost their headway, and then wheeled them, 
as on a pivot, quarter way around, so that they 
all faced towards the steamer. In this position, 
the rowers “ tossed oars.” 

The Ocean-Born, with steam on, lay at the 
wharf, where she had hauled in to receive the 
invited guests. These consisted of about a dozen 
ladies and gentlemen, who were seated on the 
hurricane deck. Mr. Arthur McGusher was 
among the number, but he did not seem to be 
exactly satisfied with his position. In the first 
place, he wanted to be with the ‘‘ enwaptuwing 


OCEAN-BORN. 


153 


young ladies,” and not a single one of them was 
on board of the steamer. In the second place, 
Mr. Ben Lunder, the tarry deck-hand of the 
Ocean-Born, had actually disputed his passage 
from the wharf to the deck of the vessel, till 
Captain Bilder vouched for him as one invited 
by Nellie Patterdale, and, after this, manifested 
a vicious tendency to pick upon and make fun 
of him ; to confuse and confound him with sea 
slang which he could not understand. 

Neil Brandon and Berry Owen were in the 
pilot-house, and Ben — having ceased for the 
moment to torture the “ dry goods swell,” as he 
irreverently insisted upon calling Mr. McGusher 
— was on the forward deck, ready to cast off 
the fasts when the order should be given. As 
the club boats pulled out from the shore, Ben 
clapped his hands in rapture ; and his demon- 
stration was quite excusable. 

“Roses and posies! ” he yelled, at the top of 
his lungs. 

“ What’s the matter, Ben ? ” demanded Neil. 

“ Hold me down ! ” added the deck-hand, 
seizing the anchor, as if to add something to his 
gravitation. 


154 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Let go, Ben ! ” said the captain. 

“ I dare not ; I shall go up if I do,” replied 
he, hugging the anchor desperately, to the- great 
amusement of the people on the hurricane- 
deck. 

“ Cast off the fasts, Ben ! ” continued Neil ; 
“we must follow them.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir ! ” roared Ben, with a voice from 
his stomach, as he slacked off the hawser. 
“ Where those briny divinities lead, I will fol- 
low. — Oblige me by casting off that foreto’bob- 
stay,” he added, to a man on the wharf. “Thank 
you, sir. — All clear forward, high and mighty 
captain.” 

Neil rang the bell to back her, so as to throw 
the steamer’s head out from the wharf. Another 
stroke stopped the engine, the after-fast was 
cast off by Karl, and the boat went ahead slowly. 
Ben coiled up the hawser he had hauled in, and 
there was no more work for the deck-hand to 
do till the steamer made another landing. He 
then mounted the hurricane-deck, to the terror 
and dismay of Mr. McGusher, who was making 
himself as agreeable as possible to the ladies of 
the party. 


OCE IN-BORN. 


ir>5 

As the Ocean-Born approached the line of 
boats, three long whistles were sounded, to ac- 
knowledge the complimentary tossing of the oars. 
She then steamed entirely around the line, and 
finally took a position between them and the 
shore, in accordance with the programme. 

At the signal from the leader of the Dorcas, 
all the oars dropped into the water as one, and 
the boats pulled in single line around the Ocean- 
Born. When this manoeuvre was completed, the 
boats suddenly whirled, and darted off, five 
abreast. It was done so prettily that all on board 
of the steamer and the yachts applauded heartily. 

“That was well done,” said Captain Patter- 
dale, clapping his hands vigorously. 

“Well done?” added Ben Lunder, who stoovl 
near him. “ That is too mild an expression. It 
was artistically done ! It was ravishingly done ! 
It was celestially done ! It was perfectly done ! 
Why, shiver my flakes, I shall be sent to the 
Insane Asylum if I look at those divinities much 
longer.” 

“ That would be the appwopwiate place for 
you,” added Mr. McGusher, who could not re- 
sist the temptation to say this, for he had not 


156 


OCEAN-BORN. 


forgiven the deck-hand for torturing him twice 
before. 

“ And what would be the appropriate place 
for you, my jolly biscuit-nibbler ? ” demanded 
Ben, who, not being protected by a rhinoceros 
hide, had been pierced by the arrow ; “ what 
but the Retreat for Idiots and Feeble-Minded 
Persons ? ” 

“ You are impertinent,” replied Mr. McGusher, 
turning red. 

“ Better be crazy than an idiot, especially 
when one’s brain is turned by a vision of love- 
liness,” added Ben, turning to the boats again. 

“You are impawtinent, saw,” retorted the 
long-lost, angrily. 

“ I have rowed .in the college boats for two 
years, but I never saw any such pulling as that. 
Captain Patterdale,” added Ben, regardless of 
the swell’s anger. “ I mean I never saw any- 
thing so graceful and precise.” 

“ Do you mean to say I am cwazy ? ” demand- 
ed Mr. McGusher, placing himself in front of 
the deck-hand. 

“ No sir ; I don’t mean to say so. It would 
be quite impossible for a fello\Y without brains 


OCEAN-BORN. 


157 


to be crazy. You are not crazy. You are not 
capable of being crazy. It requires a capital 
stock of brains to enable a fellow to become 
crazy. You are not crazy ; and you are in no 
danger of being crazy. I remarked that I might 
be sent to an Insane Asylum, not you. Now 
my hearty, sheer off ; take a reef in your main to 
gallant smoke-stack, top up your fore-r’yal- 
boom ! ” 

“ You made a wemawk, saw,” blustered Mr. 
McGusher. 

“ I did ; and, shiver my skysail-ports. I’ll 
make another I I don’t know you, sir and I 
never quarrel with a person to whom I have 
not been introduced ; ” and Ben walked away 
with Captain Patterdale. 

The long lost concluded to bottle up his 
wrath for the present, and retaliate upon his 
persecutor at a more convenient season. The 
club boats came about, and pulled towards the 
steamer “ by twos,” the Dorcas leading. For 
half an hour they continued to perform their 
evolutions, which have been fully described in 
another volume. When they had finished them, 
the boats formed in a single line, and to:;sed 


158 


OCEAN-BOR^q-. 


oars. Again the Ocean Born steamed around 
them, all hands vigorously applauding. 

At another gun from the Skylark, all the sail- 
ing-yachts weighed their anchors and hoisted 
their jibs. The wind was light, and it was not 
possible for them to make over three knots an 
hour. The boats then formed “ by twos,” with 
the Dorcas in front, and started for Turtle Head. 
The yachts had taken position, three on each 
side of the boats, while the Ocean-Born kept 
behind them, so as not to stir up the water in 
Avhich they pulled. The steamer barely turned 
her screw, so slowly did the procession move. 
Berry Owen had taken the helm, and Neil was 
on the hurricane-deck, doing the honors of the 
ship to the guests. 

“ Who is the young man that commands this 
steamer?” asked Captain Bilder of Gerald Roach, 
as they met on the hurricane deck. 

“ His name is Neil Brandon,” replied Gerald. 

“ Who was his father ? ” 

“ His father was a very rich man, who died 
about twelve years ago.” 

“ How old is the captain ? ” 

^‘Eighteen, sir,” answered Gerald. 


OCEAN'-BOBN'. 


159 


“ Of course, then,” Captain Bilder reasoned, 
“the father of the young commander could not 
have been the mate of the Coriolanus, for he 
was not married at that time, and could not 
have a son eighteen years old at the present 
time.” 

This settled the question in his mind, and he 
made no further inquiries in regard to the mat- 
ter But it was rather odd that there should bo 
another Neil Brandon who had followed the sea, 
that his son, like the lost child, had been born 
at sea, and that he should be called the “ Ocean- 
Born.” Captain Bilder was satisfied that his old 
mate could not have died, twelve years before, 
very rich, for he never seemed like a money- 
making man. He had. never heard of liim in 
command of a ship, and he doubted whether he 
ever rose above the position of mate. 

In a couple of hours the procession arrived 
at Turtle Head, where the steamer and the 
yachts anchored, and the young ladies of the 
boat clubs landed. The Yacht Club .flag wa) 
flying on the club house, and several membeio 
were on duty there. Among them was Morris 
Hollinghead, who had made a fish chowder for 


160 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


all hands. The guests were landed as fast as 
they could be, and the chowder was served at 
once. 

“ Ah, Miss Bildaw, I have been enwapchawed 
at the sight of the boats, and the faiaw beings 
in them,’’ said Mr. McGusher, as soon as he 
could find her whom he hoped soon to call his 
sister. “ It was a delicious sight.” 

I’m glad you liked it,” replied Kate. 

“I never saw so many pwetty young ladies 
togethaw in all my life.” 

“ Indeed ! ” 

“ Nevaw ! ” 

“ How did you like the rowing ? ” asked Kate. 

“ The wowing ? The wowing was sublime. 
How could it fail to be when the young ladies 
waw so chawming ? ” 

“ I don’t think the charms of the young ladies 
make good rowing,” replied Kate. 

“Well, now, I do. I don’t know how to 
wow myself, and pawhaps I’m not a judge ; but 
I want to lawn to wow. Will you lawn me, 
my deaw sistaw?” 

Kate’s face flushed when he called her his 
sister. She was indignant at his presumption. 


OCEAN-BORN. ICl 

She did not believe she was his sister, and 
Captain Bilder was satisfied that Mr. McGusher 
was not his son. The father and daughter had 
fully considered the claim of the “long-lost,” 
and he was only countenanced for the time being 
in order to discover who had given him the 
letter, and supplied the information written upon 
the parts of the card. Mr. McGusher saw the 
flush upon Kate’s cheek, and realized that he 
had made a mistake. 

“ I beg your pawdon,” said he, bowing and 
touching his white hat. “ I suppose I am not 
to call you sistaw for the pwesent ; and I will 
not do so again. Will you lawn me to wow. 
Miss Bildaw ? ” 

“ I think you can find a better teacher than I 
should be.” 

“I’m suaw I could not,” protested Mr. Mc- 
Gusher. “But I have not the pleasyaw of the 
acquaintance of these young ladies. Will you 
favaw me with an intwoduction to them ? ” 

“ To all of them ? ” demanded Kate. 

“AU of them, if you please.” 

“ Most of them seem to be occupied just now^ ; 
but as opportunity offers, J will introduce you.” 

11 


162 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Miss Bilder, allow me to offer you a dish 
of chowder,” said Ben Lunder, who appeared 
at this moment with two bowls of the ait.cle. 

“ Thank you, Mr. Lunder. I am as hungry 
as a wolf,” replied Kate, accepting the offered 
dish. 

“ That is precisely my own condition,” replied 
Ben; “and as I see the ladies are all helped, 
this other dish will just fit my case.” 

“ I beg your pawdon, Mr. Lundaw,” inter- 
posed Mr. McGusher ; “ it was hawdly polite 
to intewupt a convawsation between this lady 
and myself.” 

“Nor to offer her chowder when she was 
hungry?” laughed Ben. “I beg your pardon, 
Miss Bilder, if I have intruded.” 

“You have not. I was half starved, and I 
wanted the chowder. I am grateful to you for 
coming when you did. Mr. McGusher did not 
bring me any chowder — ” 

“ I beg your pawdon, Miss Bildaw,” inter- 
rupted the long-lost. I supposed the waitaws 
would bwing it.” 

“We have no waiters. But, Mr. McGusher, 
I promised to introduce you to some of the 




I 







k t. 




OCEAN-BORN. 


163 


ladies. I will make a beginning now. — Mr. 
L under, will you hold my dish till I return ? ” 

“ Certainly.” 

Kate conducted Mr. McGusher to an elderly 
maiden lady, and formally introduced him to 
her. She was old, and she was very homely ; 
but then she was good enough to be one of the 
salt of the earth. As soon as Kate had done 
her part, she fled, leaving Mr. McGusher very 
much disgusted ; and we must do the maiden 
lady the justice to say that she was hardly less 
disgusted. 

“Your friend is determined to quarrel with 
me. Miss Bilder,” said Ben, as he gave her the 
dish of chowder again. 

“ My friend ! ” exclaimed Kate. 

“ Your father said he was staying at your 
house.” 

“ He is ; but we are not responsible for him. 
I think he is the most absurd young man I 
ever saw.” 

Mr. McGusher stood by the maiden lady, and 
saw Ben chatting with Kate. He had come 
between her and himself, thus adding another 
offence to the catalogue of his sins. He was 


164 


OCEAN-BORN. 


mad ; he did not like to be cut out by any one, 
and especially not by his tormentor. But he 
did not see how he could help himself at that 
moment. He escaped from the ancient maiden 
as soon as he could, quite as much to her re- 
lief as his own. As all the young ladies seemed 
to be occupied with their own friends, he could 
only walk about ; but he kept one eye on Kate 
Bilder all the time, in order to step in as soon 
as Ben should seek another companion. He 
would insist that she should redeem her promise 
to introduce him to the young ladies. When 
the chowder-eating and the coffee-drinking were 
disposed of, a meeting of both clubs was called 
to consider the proposed cruise up the river, 
and the officers of the Ocean-Born were invited 
to be present and take part in the discussion. 
Commodore Montague called the assembly to 
order. 

“ The first business, ladies and gentlemen, 
will be to choose a chairman, or a chairlady,” 
said the commodore. 

“ I nominate Commodore Montague,” inter- 
posed Ned Patterdale. 

“Really, ladies and gentlemen, I — ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


166 


“ Those in favor of the- commodore will say, 

Ay." 

“ Ay ! ” shouted all the rowists and yacht- 
men. 

“It is a unanimous vote, for no one is ex- 
pected to vote the other way,” added Ned, 
laughing. 

“ I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your 
kind consideration ; but I was about to suggest 
the name of Captain Neil Brandon for chairman, 
as a proper compliment to be paid to our dis- 
tinguished guest. But, since you have placed 
it out of my power to do so, I have no choice 
but to submit.” 

A round of tumultuous applause followed this 
announcement. 

“ Perhaps you will allow me to decline, even 
now.” 

“ I beg you will not, Mr. Commodore,” said 
Neil, rising, his face crimson with blushes. “I 
have had no experience as a presiding officer, 
and I should certainly decline to serve.” 

After some talk, the commodore consented to 
retain his position. He made quite a speech, in 
which he set forth the obligations of both clubs 


166 


OCEAN-BORN. 


to the officers of the steamer for the service they 
had rendered in rescuing several members from 
a very disagreeable, if not a very perilous situ- 
ation. 

“ I need not tell you, ladies and gentlemen, 
that Captain Brandon, his officers and crew, 
liave fully discharged the first and highest duty 
of a sailor, in going so promptly to the assist- 
ance of our friends, and giving them the help 
they so much needed. I am sure that we all 
feel under personal obligations to them for the 
service they rendered our members, and for the 
very hospitable and xjourteous treatment extended 
to them on board of the Ocean-Born. I speak 
for all of you when I tender to Captain Bran- 
don, his officers and crew, our best wishes for 
their future prosperity and happiness.” 

The conclusion of the speech was received 
with wild applause. 

“And now I have the pleasure of introducing 
to you Captain Neil Brandon, of the Ocean- 
Born, who, doubtless, desires to respond to your 
hearty expression of good will,” added the com- 
modore. 

“ Mr. Chairman,” Neil began ; but he was 


OCEAN-BORN. 


1G7 


interrupted by another liurricane of applause. 
“I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and you, ladies 
and gentlemen, for the very pleasant and kind 
words you have spoken. It was a very great 
satisfaction to me to assist our friends in the 
Sea Foam, after their accident ; but we don’t 
claim any credit for simply doing our duty. I 
am no speech-maker, Mr. Chairman, and if you 
will excuse me, I will call upon my friend Ben 
Lunder to speak for me.” 

“ Lunder ! Lunder ! ” shouted the boys, and 
the girls clapped their little white hands, and 
waved their white handkerchiefs. 

“ I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Ben 
Lunder,” added the commodore. 

“ Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to respond 
to anything relating to our noble profession as 
sailors. I am a sailor, Mr. Chairman, as you 
are aware ; and, as you are all sailors, including 
even these bewitching female old salts, you will 
be able to appreciate me. Yes, sir! I am a 
sailor from the fore-royal-bobstay to the mizzen- 
to’gallant-keelson. Every particle of blood that 
flows through these weather-stained veins of mine 
is as salt as sea- water. In regard to the little 


168 


OCEAN-BORN. 


service we were able to render some of your 
people, it is not worth mentioning. What was 
it, Mr. Chairman? Why, that grand and lofty 
frigate of the foaming main — the Sea Foam — 
carried away her fore.-skysail knight-heads, and 
lay a shapeless wreck upon the pulsing billows. 
Her sky-scrapers had gone by the board ; her 
mizzen-to’gallant-top-knots came down, and the 
mizzen-royal flukes of the starboard anchor were 
busted ; and there she was ! Could we leave 
her, with her main-to’gallant scuppers sprung? 
Could we pass her b}^ on the other side, as the 
publican did the Pharisee, with her main-to’gal- 
lant-halyards gone by the board, and the \vealher- 
pumps scuttled so they couldn’t box the com- 
pass ? No, sir! I am the crew of that steamer. 
We worked like sea-dogs, and we helped them 
out. We would do no less, and we couldn’t do 
more. Mr. Chairman, in behalf of the officers 
and crew of the Ocean-Born, — especially the 
crew, — I am yours, truly.” 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


169 


CHAPTER IX. 

MC GUSHER versus LUISTDER. 

B en LUNDER’S speech was heartily ap- 
plauded, and so, indeed, was that of every 
one who spoke or attempted to speak. It was 
the “era of good feelings.” The complimentary 
part of the proceedings having been disposed of, 
the arrangements for the up-river excursion were 
considered and adopted. A time was fixed to 
start, and the meeting dissolved. 

When Ben got up to make his speech, Mr. 
McGusher approached Kate and placed himself 
by her side, intent upon regaining the ground 
he had lost. • All the boys laughed at Ben’s 
“ nauticals,” and most of the girls knew enough 
about vessels to appreciate the absurdity of his 
remarks. Everybody was amused except the 
long-lost; and Ben could say nothing to provoke 
a smile from him. He was determined not to 
be amused. 


170 


OCEAN-EORN. 


“ Those wemawks aw vewy silly, Miss Bil- 
daw,” said he, in a low tone. 

“ Now I think they are very fimny,” replied 
Kate. “ I think Mr. Lunder is a splendid fel- 
low.” 

“ Do you, indeed ? ” groaned Mr. McGusher. 
“ I think he is lacking in bwains.” 

“ Excuse me •; but I should like to hear him,” 
added Kate. 

The long-lost was obliged to be silent after 
this hint. In his eloquence Ben had stepped 
forward a few steps from the rock Avhere he had 
been seated at Kate’s side, and Mr. McGusher, 
who was prominently developed on each side of 
his face, took the place which had been vacated. 
As Ben was working up his peroration, he 
unconsciously backed up to the rock again, not 
aware that his late seat had been occupied by 
another. As he finished, he bowed, and, with- 
out looking behind him, dropped into his former 
position. He was considerably excited by his 
oratorical effort, and bounced rather heavily into 
Mr. McGusher’s lap. Either out of respect to 
the lady at his side, or because his brow was 
fevered by the misfortunes of the hour, this 



4V 


4 


4 




J 



$ 

I 


I 


I 


1 


« 






\ 


¥ 

I 

• V 



% 




« 


I 


\ 







ri* 







• «» 


« • 




I 



N * 
•' -V' 


f 


i 



OCEAN-BORN. 


171 


gentleman had taken off his white stove-];.ipe hat, 
and placed it upon his knees. Ben struck upon 
the crown of the tile, crushing it down as flat 
as a pancake. 

Ben instantly sprang to his feet again, when 
he realized the mischief he had done. Possibly 
he feared, in the confusion of the moment, that 
he had sat down in Miss Bilder’s lap. The mis- 
hap was greeted with roars of laughter from the 
boys and the girls ; and doubtless some sides 
ached, and some of the party were in danger 
of choking to death with their mirth, when Mr. 
McGusher held up his damaged tile, which 
looked very much like one of those telescopic 
hats which shut into a box only two inches 
deep. 

“ Do you see what 3^011 have done ? ” demanded 
Mr. McGusher, as he sprang to his feet, with 
the crushed hat in his hand. 

“ I see ; and, in its present condition, I admit 
that 3murs is a shocking bad hat,” replied Ben, 
good-naturedly, as the tile was not his own. 

“You have ewushed my hat,” wailed the 
long-lost. 

“ What did you get into my seat for? I didn’t 


172 


OCEAN-BORN. 


know you were there ; and it was not my fault,” 
laughed Ben. 

“You did it on pawpose ! You intended to 
insult me ! You have insulted me thwee times 
befaw to-day,” howled Mr. McGusher. 

“ All right my hearty,” said Ben, moving 
towards the seat on the rock which the swell 
had vacated. 

But Mr. McGusher was not to be flanked a 
second time, and he dropped into the place by 
Kate’s side. 

“ You have wuined my hat,” he continued, 
trying to restore it to its former shape. 

“ See here, my jovial biscuit-nibbler, if I am to 
blame, I’ll buy you a more decent hat than that 
one ever was ; and I will leave it to any three 
gentlemen here to say if it was my fault or 
yours. I suggest Captain Bilder and Captain 
Patterdale as two of the referees, and they may 
select the tliird.” 

“ That's fair ! ” shouted the yachtmen. 

“ I will apologize into the bargain,” added 
Ben ; “ and that will be the most humiliating 
part of the business.” 

“ Referees ! ” shouted the boys, who expected 
some fun to come out of the hearing. 


OCEAN-CORN. 


173 

Mr. McGusher was compelled to submit to 
the popular will ; and after the meeting the trial 
of the case was to take place. But it was past 
seven o’clock when the plan for the excursion 
was adopted; and it was time to return to the 
city, especially as there was a shower coming up 
in the west. But the long-lost was not per- 
mitted to enjoy the place he had stolen by the 
side of Kate. She seemed to be rather partial 
to Ben ; at any rate she enjoyed his funny 
speeches; and when Mr. McGusher resumed his 
seat, she abandoned her own, and walked awav 
with the “old salt” to a bench which was not 
occupied, where they remained till the close of 
the meeting. The long-lost felt that his “ sis- 
ter ” was abusing him, and he was determined, 
as soon as his position was established, that 
Kate should treat the marine monster as he 
deserved. 

“ Miss President of the Dorcas Club,” said 
Neil, when the meeting was dissolved, “ I am 
afraid there will be a shower before you can pull 
back to the cit3^” 

“ It looks like one,” replied Minnie, anxiously. 
“ And it will be half past nine before we can reauh 
home.” 


174 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


“ I think you had better go up in the steamer/' 
added Neil. 

“ What shall we do with our boats ? ” 

“We can put them on our hurricane deck.” 

“ 1 should be very glad to go up in the 
Ocean-Born.” 

“I am afraid we shall not get back to-night 
with the yachts,” said Ned Patterdale. “ There 
is not a breath of wind.” 

“ I will tow you up ; and if it rains we can 
all stay under cover,” replied Neil. 

“ We don’t care for the rain,” laughed Ned ; 
“ but we rather like the arrangement, for there 
will be some fun in that trial.” 

“ I can tow two of those yachts on each side, 
and the other two astern,” added Neil. 

All the party were informed of the plan, and 
the invited guests and members of the clubs 
were embarked in the steamer. Two of the 
yachts were then lashed on each side of her, and 
hawsers from the other two were passed to her 
stern. But it was found that the club boats 
could be better carried upon the decks of the 
yachts, as no sails were to be set, and they were 
carefully taken out of the water, so as not to 


OCEAN-BORJ^. 


17.1 


strain them, and cradled in convenient places. 
The anchor of the Ocean -Born was weighed, and 
the bell to go ahead was sounded. Martin Roach 
had stirred up the fires in the furnaces, so that 
she had plenty of steam for the heavy tow she 
had undertaken. The ladies’ cabin was open, 
and one of the ladies was playing a waltz on 
the piano. Groups in various parts of the 
deck were singing, and no livelier party was 
ever gathered than that on hoard of the Ocean- 
Born. 

The trial was to take place in the forward 
cabin, where the referees opened the session soon 
after the steamer started. Dr. Darling had been 
chosen as the third referee. Ben and Mr. Mc- 
Gusher were summoned to the tribunal, where- 
of the doctor was the presiding officer, by the 
choice of his fellows. The cabin was crowded 
to its utmost capacity, and those who could not 
get in stationed themselves at the doors and 
windows. Perhaps no one but Mr. McGusher 
regarded it as a serious proceeding, and he had 
some fears that it might afford his tormentor an 
opportunity to torture him. 

“Gentlemen, this is a Court of Reference to 


176 


OCEAN-BORN. 


try the case of — What’s his name ? ” asked 
Dr. Darling, opening the proceedings. 

“ Mr. Arthur McGusher,” replied Captain Bil- 
der. 

“ Mr. Arthur McGusher verms Mr. Ben Bun- 
der, alias Bounding Billow Ben,” continued the 
doctor. “ Both of the parties were strangers to 
most of us till to-day, and therefore we shall be 
able to deal impartially with both of them. Mr. 
McGusher appears to bo the plaintiff, and brings 
this suit to recover the value of one white hat, 
encircled with a black weed, according to the 
fashion of the day — or perhaps I should say, 
the fashion of the extremists. I don’t know 
the value of it, but perhaps that will appear in 
the evidence. — Mr. McGusher, will you take 
the stand ? ” 

Mr. McGusher took the stand, which was the 
end of the table opposite the chairman of the 
referees. 

“ Your name in full, sir ? ” Dr. Darling pro- 
ceeded. 

“ Arthur McGushaw,” replied the plaintiff, 
doubtfully, for the case opened rather formidably. 

“ Your residence ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


17 T 

“ NeAV Yawk city.” 

“ How old are you ? ” 

“ Eighteen.” 

“ Do you consider that you have attained the 
age of discretion?” 

“ The age of discwetion? Goodness gwacious! 
I should hope . so.” 

“ How much do you weigh when you are 
fat?” 

“I 'don’t know,” replied the long-lost, almost 
discouraged by the choking laughter of the spec- 
tators. 

“ This is important.”' 

“ What odds can it make how much I weigh? ” 
demanded Mr. McGusher. 

“It is not usual for courts of justice to be 
questioned. How much do you weigh ? ” 

“ I don’t know.” 

“ Have you never been weighed in the bal- 
ance, and found wanting ? ” 

“No, saw.” 

“How old did you say you were?” 

“ I said I was eighteen.” 

“Just eighteen?” 

“ Yes, saw.” 

12 


178 


OCEAiT-BOKN. 


“ Eighteen now ? ” 

“ Of cawse I’m eighteen now. I nevaw was 
eighteen befaw. How could a fella w be eighteen 
befaw he is eighteen ? ” 

The company laughed at this answer. Mr. 
McGusher believed he had made a point, and 
he enjoyed it. He was encouraged. 

“ Eighteen now ? ” 

“ Of cawse.” 

“ How old shall you be when you are twenty- 
one?” 

“ I don’t know,” replied the long-lost, who 
was, perhaps, thinking of the point he had 
made ; but his answer produced a roar of smiles. 

“You don’t know ? ” 

“ How old shall I be when I am twenty-one ? ” 
repeated Mr. McGusher, putting his whole mind 
to the question. “ Of cawse I shall be twenty- 
one when I am twenty-one.” 

“ That may be true in your case,” added Dr. 
Darling, looking very wise. “ Now, will you 
please to state your view of the unhappy diffi- 
culty between Mr. Lunder and yourself.” 

“It is soon told, saw. Seeing my fwiend. 
Miss Bildaw, seated on a wock — ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


179 

“ On a what ? ” 

“On a wock,” replied the long-lost, with 
'emphasis. 

“ On a wock ? ” repeated the examiner. “What’s 
that?” 

“ On a wock ! Don’t you know what a wock 
is?” 

“I do not,” replied the doctor, shaking his 
head, and looking very much puzzled. “ On a 
wock ? ” 

“On a wock ! On a big stone ! ” said the 
plaintiff, desperately. 

“ O ! on a rock ! I beg your pardon. I un- 
derstand now. Proceed, if you please. Miss 
Bilder was seated on a rock.” 

“ Miss Bildaw is my fwiend, and I seated 
myself at her side, as I think I had a pawfect 
wight to do, if the lady did not object.” 

“ Then Miss Bilder did not object ? ” 

“ She did not. Then Mr. Lundaw sat down 
in my lap, and cwushed my hat. That’s the 
whole of it.” 

“Where vas Mr. Lunder when you seated 
yourself at Miss Bilder ’s side ? ” 

“ He was standing up.” 


180 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ What was he doing ? ” 

“ Making what he called a speech.” 

“ What he called a speech. What did you 
call it ? ” 

“ It was hardly an owation or a hawang. I 
jail it nonsense,” replied Mr. McGusher, can- 
lidly. 

“ But — 

“‘A little nonsense now and then 
Is relished by the wisest men.” 

\ 3u did not relish the nonsense, Mr. McGush- 
er ? ” 

“ No, saw, I did not.” 

“ Are we to conclude, therefore, that you are 
not to be classed among the wisest men ? ” 

“ I am not a fool, an idiot, to welish such 
stuff as that was.” 

“ Then those of us who did enjoy it are to 
be considered fools and idiots — are they ? That 
will do, Mr. McGusher. You may step down.” 

“ I don't mean to say that,” protested the 
long-lost.” 

“ Mr. Lunder will take the stand,” added the 
doctor. 

Ben took Ihe stand. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


181 


“ Your name sir ? ” 

“B. Lunder, O. S.’’ 

“ O. S. Old style ? ” 

“No, sir; old salt.” 

“ Your occupation ? ” 

“ Seaman.” 

“How long have you been to sea?” 

“Four days — perhaps five now, counting to- 
day as one.” 

“ Had the measles ? ” 

“Yes, sir — had ’em good.” 

“ Fighting weight ? ” 

“ One hundred and twenty-one pounds, eleven 
and one half ounces, Avoirdupois.” 

“ Now state if you please, your view of the 
difficulty between Mr. McGusher and yourself.” 

“ The principal difficulty lies in Mr. McGush- 
er’s inability to appreciate my speeches,” laughed 
Ben. 

“ The facts in the case, if you please.” 

“ I was sitting with Miss Bilder on the rock, 
when I was called upon by the high and mighty 
commander of the Ocean-Born to make a little 
speech. He had eaten so much chowder himself 
that he was too full for utterance, and I had 


182 


OCEAN-BORN. 


to utter for him. I beg to remind you, Mr. 
Chairman, that I am an old salt by profession. j 

Lot’s wife was a first cousin of mine. The first i 

duty of a sailor, sir, is to obey. \ 

‘ Theirs not to make reply ; I 

Theirs not to reason why; \ 

Theirs but to do and die,’ ' 

or make a speech ; and, with becoming modesty, | 
it was a capital speech, in my opinion, whatever 
Mr. McGusher may say or think.” i 

“ Thats so ! ” shouted the spectators. 

‘‘ Order in the court ! ” said Dr. Darling, pound- 
ing on the table most vigorously. “ Go on, Mr. 
Lunder.” 

“ I was seated by Miss Bilder, on the rock. 
Etiquette required that I should stand when I 
made that speech. I did what the immortal 
General Warren told the Bunker Hillers to do 
when he said, ‘ Stand ! the ground’s your own, 
my braves. ’ 

“ I am not so sure I should have had the 
courage to stand, if I had thought I should lose 
my ground on the rock by doing so. But I did 
stand. Milton says, — 

‘ They also serve who only stand.’ 

“ It was my duty to stand, Mr. Chairman. My 


OCEAN-BORN. 


183 


commander had ordered me to stand. I rose, 
Mr. Chairman ; I rose modestly and gracefully 
to obey the order of my great commander. As 
‘ tlie rose is fairest when ’tis budding,’ I budded 
upon that audience. I rose, and though there 
were onions in the chowder, ‘a rose by any 
other name would smell as sweet.’ I rose and 
made my speech. Under the fiery inspiration of 
the moment, I waxed eloquent. I depicted the 
wild scene upon the stormy ocean, when the 
mad waves dashed savagely over the helpless 
Sea Foam, when the bob-scuttle had gone by 
the board ; when the angry tide twisted the 
cleats, cat-harpings, bowlines, bobstays, dead-eyes., 
dead-lights, and dead reckoning into half-hitches, 
when — ” 

“ Do you intend to repeat your speech, Mr. 
Lunder ? ” asked the doctor. 

“ If the court particularly desire it, — yes, sir.” 

“ Nothing but the want of time prevents the 
court from particularly desiring its repetition.” 

“ T should be happy to oblige the court at 
another time then. I only intended to show 
how it was that I waxed eloquent. As I waxed, 
I took a step forward, as great orators do 


184 


OCEAN-BORN. 


unconsciously when stirred by the fires of elo- 
quence. Of course, Mr. Chairman, as I orated, 
I was unconscious of the movements of the plain- 
tiff. I could see nothing but the sea of upturned 
faces before me ; and I did not see Mr. Mc- 
Gusher take the seat which I had vacated but 
a moment before. When I finished I sat down, 
and as the plaintiff was in my seat, I sat down 
in his lap, and squashed his hat. How could 
I know, sir, that the plaintiff had surreptitiously 
and flagitiously taken my seat ? ” 

“Did you consider that the seat belonged to 
you ? ” 

“ As much as though I had foreclosed a 
mortgage upon it. Consider the circumstances, 
Mr. Chairman. I was freely lavishing my elo- 
quence upon the company. I was laboring for 
the information and entertainment of the party. 
If I used my shining talents for this purpose, 
should I suffer for it? Should I lose my seat 
for it? ” 

“ No ! No I No ! ” shouted the young men. 

“ Certainly not ; and of course, Mr. Chairman, 
you will decide in favor of the defendant.” 

“You may step down, Mr. Lunder,” added 


OCEAN-BORN. 


185 


Dr. Darling. “ Have you anything further to 
say, Mr. McGusher ? ” 

“ I have, sir. I don’t wish to quawwel with 
Mr. Lundaw, and I’m willing to accept his 
apology,” replied the long-lost. 

“ When he makes one, you may,” added Ben. 

“ The court will settle that question,” inter- 
posed the doctor. “ The law applicable to this 
case, may be found in Shakespeare’s play of 
Much Ado about Nothing — ‘ Sits the wind in that 
corner ? ’ Metaphorically, Mr. McGusher is the 
wind, and ‘ that corner ’ is the rock. It is ad- 
mitted that Mr. McGusher sat down on the 
rock ; and ‘ sits the wind in that corner.’ Buil- 
der had not abandoned that seat. If he had 
deliberately got up, and gone off, like a gun, he 
might thus have relinquished possession of it. 
But he did not go off like a gun or otherwise, 
and not having relinquished possession of it, the 
seat was his, both in law and equity ; and accord- 
ing to Shakespeare, standing up in front of hh 
seat to make a speech, in obedience to the order 
of his superior officer, and in answer to the call 
of the company, does not amount to a relin- 
quishment of the seat. He had vacated it only 


186 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


for the moment, at the call of the crowd. Now, 
if he had got up to make that speech with the 
evil and vicious intent and purpose of inflicting 
his remarks upon the company, as some ill-bred 
persons do, the case would have been different, 
and he would have voluntarily relinquished his 
seat, both in law and fact. Lunder was, there- 
fore, still in legal possession of the seat, though 
not in actual bodily possession of it, at the pre- 
cise instant when McGusher took possession of 
it. A tenant cannot be said to have abandoned 
the house he hires, to have relinquished posses- 
sion thereof, because he temporarity leaves it to 
go to the corner grocery for a cent’s worth of 
milk. My associates agree with me that this is 
sound law. The law being thus indisputably 
clear, it only remains to consider the facts, upon 
which there is no material disagreement. The 
seat belonged to Lunder ; McGusher took it ; in 
other words, he took what did not belong to 
him, and what did belong to Lunder. Mc- 
Gusher is at fault. This court flnds for the 
defendant, and sentences McGusher to apologize 
to Lunder for taking his seat.” 

“ Who pays for my hat?” demanded Mr. Me-* 
Gusher, amid roars of laughter. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


18T 


“The court decides that the hat was particeps 
criminis in the act of the owner. “ It was in 
the place of Lunder, where it had no right to 
be. The hat was crushed because it was an in- 
truder, like a mosquito in the boudoir of a lady ! 
‘ Truth crushed to earth shall rise again ; ’ but 
hats never,” said Dr. Darling. 

Mr. McGusher was not satisfied with the de- 
cision of the referees, but there was no appeal. 
He refused to apologize, however, and gazed 
ruefully at his twisted and misshapen hat. 

The rain was falling in torrents when the 
Ocean-Born with her heavy tow arrived at tlie 
city ; but all the part}^ were under cover, and 
continued to have a jolly time till the weather 
permitted the ladies to go to their homes. Bon 
Lunder walked home with Kate Bilder, and spent 
the evening at the house. Mr. McGusher was 
disgusted, and at an early hour retired to his 
room. He did so only to get out of the way 
of his tormentor, who would not insult him, or 
even take any notice of him. 

Mr. McGusher was troubled ; his hat was 
spoiled, and he had hardly ten dollars in his 
pocket — not more than ' enough to pay his ex- 


188 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


penses to New York. He must buy a new hat ; 
he could hardly go into the street with the 
crushed tile on his head. He was worried about 
his financial prospects. He walked the room. 
As he passed the bureau on which stood his 
lamp, he saw a letter, the corner of which was 
thrust into the side of the looking-glass frame. 
It had evidently been placed there where it could 
be seen, perhaps as a reminder that something 
was to be done with it at a future period. 
Raising the lamp, he read the address : ‘‘ Mbs. 
Maey J. Banfokd.” From the character of 
the stamp upon it, he judged that the letter had 
been sent some years before. 

Mr. McGusher took the letter from its place. 
He looked at it for some time, and then he 
•opened it, being very careful not to tear the 
envelope. He wet it, and worked upon it for 
ten minutes before he got it open. He took 
the contents from it, and found in the sheet of 
note paper it contained two five hundred dollar 
bills. Whether or not he knew Mrs. Banford, 
to whom the letter was addressed, and whether 
or not he expected to find so much money in 
the letter, does not yet appear. 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


180 


CHAPTER X. 

THE SHADOW. 

M rs. BANFORD, to whom the letter 
which Mr. iMcGusher had opened was 
addressed, had been Captain Bilder’s housekeeper 
many years before. This letter had come after 
her departure ; and as her address was not 
known, her employer could not send it to her. 
As the captain had told his daughter, he had 
heard nothing from her since she left. 

Mr. McGusher was careful to see that the 
door of his room was securely fastened before he 
opened the letter. Of course he was fully aware 
that his proceedings were not at all regular. It 
is hardly probable that he would have taken 
the trouble to open the letter, if he had not 
expected to find money in it, for the want of 
it at that time was the sore need of his ex- 
istence. He looked at one of the bills, then at 


190 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


the other, and finally at both together. He 
never had so much money in his hand at one 
time before. They were large bills ; in fact, too 
large to suit his purpose, for they were not 
available for use in their present form, and he 
hardly dared to ask any person in the city to 
change one of them, lest it should subject him 
to suspicion. 

He read the letter in which the money was 
enclosed; but he did not seem to be much in- 
terested in it. It contained but a few lines, and 
no signature was attached to it. If ho knev*^ 
anything about the valuable epistle, he certainly 
did not obtain his knowledge from the letter 
itself. He transferred the mone}^ to his wallet, 
and returned the letter to the envelope. He r,tuck 
down the flap again, and placed it where he had 
found it, in the looking-glass. 

Mr. McG usher was a rich young man now. 
His conscience did not appear to smite him for 
what he had done ; and perhaps the only thing 
that worried him was the difficulty of changing 
the large bill. He had a certain amount of low 
cunning, which rendered him extremely cautious ; 
and before he went to bed he had decided to 


OCEAN-BORN. 


191 


take the steamer the next morning for Bangor, 
where he could change the bills into a more 
available currency, without being suspected. 

Mr. McGusher felt very rich. He could ‘‘cut 
as wide a swath” now as any of the young fel- 
lows on. the Ocean-Born or the yachts. The 
thousand dollars in his pocket filled his head 
with visions of fast horses, elegant suppers, and 
a good time, while the money lasted. Bj the 
time it was gone, his “long-lost father” would 
be ready to take him to his arms, and allow him 
three thousand dollars a year or so for his per- 
sonal expenses This was what the young man 
thought, from which it will be inferred that he 
did not “ take any stock ” in the povert / of 
Captain Bilder. He suspected that the diip- 
master was a shrewd man, who pleaded pc/erty 
to save himself from imposition. Mr. Mjorusher 
went to bed, when he had decided what to do, and 
possibly he went to sleep, after a while, though 
his suddenly-acquired riches rather disturbed the 
equilibrium of his little brain. 

Before ten o’clock Ben Lunder bade Kate 
adieu, and returned to the Ocean-Born. 1 am 
not quite sure that Ben slept before the small 


192 


OCEAN-BORN. 


hours of the morning, for Miss Bilder was a very 
pretty girl, and a vision of her sweet face haunted 
his brain. He thought it all over as he lay in 
his bunk in the forecastle of the steamer ; and 
he rather flattered himself that she had been 
pleased with him, that she had been more par- 
tial to his society than to that of others. He 
had heard of her father’s financial disaster, but 
he did not care a straw for that. He liked 
Kate, and he did not ask whether she was rich 
or poor. 

If Miss Kate was similarly affected, she liad no 
time to indulge in a vision of the young col- 
legian, the ^‘old salt,” for her father began to 
talk to her as soon as Ben had gone ; and the 
conversation was so interesting and important 
that they staid up till after midnight. 

“ This McGusher is a ridiculous spooney,” 
said Captain Bilder, when he was alone with 
Kate. “ I have been ashamed of him all the 
afternoon.” 

“ Why did you ask him to come to the house, 
father? ” added Kate, rather reproachfully. “ He 
has been hanging about me like a leech, and I 
hate the sight of him. I tried to treat him de- 


OCEAN-BORN. 


103 


cently till he made such a fool of himself. Are 
we to have him in the house for a week or 
two ? ” 

“ I hope not, though we may not stay in the 
house ourselves many days longer,” replied the 
ship-master, rather sadly. 

“ I should almost be willing to leave it, if I 
could get rid of Mr. McGusher. You don’t think 
he is — he is — my brother — do you, father ? ” 
asked Kate, with something like a shudder, for 
certainly it was better to have no brother than 
such a one as the long-lost. 

But she did think it would be “so nice ” to 
have such a brother as Mr. Lunder, so noble, so 
funny, and so handsome ! 

“ I don’t think he is your brother, Kate. If 
there is anything in parental instinct, I am very 
sure he is not my son,” answered the captain, 
with a faint smile. “ Your brother’s eyes were 
blue, and this fellow’s are gray. Plis nose is 
entirely different from my little boy’s, that is, in 
shape. Little Oscar’s nose was Grecian, like 
yours and mine, while this puppy’s is a pug nose. 
No, Kate, I know he is not my son.” 

“ Then why do you encourage him, father, by 

13 


194 


OCEAN-BORlSr. 


taking him into your house, and allowing him 
to go into society with us ? ” 

“ I will tell you, Kate. I do it because 1 want 
to ascertain his connection with other parties. 
I wish to investigate this card business. The 
part which came to me ten years ago exactl}^ 
corresponds with the part brought by this young 
cub. It seems to me that if any one intended 
to impose upon me ten years ago, as the first 
letter and piece of card led me to suppose, he 
would hardly have waited so long for the fruits 
of the enterprise. I have thought of it all the 
afternoon ; but I can make nothing of it. If 
this young fellow had blue eyes and a Grecian 
nose, and had not been such an utter simpleton, 
I should certainly have believed he was my son. 
Of course the two parts of the card came from 
the same person, though the tone, style, and 
writing of the two letters are entirely different. 
I have written to Borden Green & Co., to a k 
if they have the third piece, and for any infor- 
mation they can give me in regard to the mat- 
ter.” 

“Did you tell him to inquire about the Chess- 
man family in Goshen ? ” asked Kate. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


195 


“ I did not ; for Borden Green has no coun- 
try place in Goshen.” 

“ Didn’t you say he had ? ” 

“No, not exactly. I only suggested the idea, 
to see what effect it would have on the idiot ; 
and I am satisfied there is no such family as the 
Chessmans. I think the little villain made up 
his story as he went along, or that somebody 
else made it up beforehand, and he committed 
it to memory.” 

“Perhaps Mr. McGusher is honest, after all, 
father. Somebody may have sent the letter to 
him at his place of business, with the card in 
it,” suggested the daughter. 

“ Hardly, Kate,” replied Captain Bilder, 
shaking his head. “If he had told me a straight 
story in regard to himself, I might have believed 
it ; but there was an evident intention, manifested 
in all his answers, to cover up his past history. 
But it is a very easy matter to trace out the 
other parties in this trick ; for I am satisfied it 
is a trick, and that there are other partie,s inter- 
ested in it. If they had known that I lost my 
property, they would not have taken all this 
trouble. They think I am still wealthy, and 


196 


OCEAN-BORN. 


that this young cub will get a part of my estate. 

It is a flimsy scheme, and any sensible person 
would have seen that it could not succeed.” 

“But Avhat are you going to do father?” 

“I am not in condition ,now to do much of 
-anything,” replied Captain Bilder, sadly. “If I 
were ,as well off as I was a year ago, I should 
employ a ‘ shadow ’ — ” 

“ A what ? ” 

“A shadow — a private detective. They call 
them shadows in New York. A man to dog 
McGusher till he discovered his associates and 
learned his history. But I can’t afford to pay 
flve dollars a day for a detective now ; and I 
must do it myself, or get some friend to do it 
for me. I was thinking of this young Mr. 
Lunder.” 

“ He would be glad to do it, father,” added 
Kate. “But then he is not going back for 
several weeks yet.” 

“I must go to New York after 1 have ar- 
ranged my affairs here, and I will attend to it 
myself. I have the big card he sent in to me, 
so that I can easily find him.” I 

It was after midnight when this conversation \ 


03EAN-B0RN. 


197 


ceased ; Lut even at this late hour, Captain Neil 
Brandon had not yet “ turned in.” In his ca- 
pacious state-room there was a desk at which he 
sat writing, when the clocks on the churches of 
the city chimed twelve. Half an hour later, 
he had finished the long letter to his mother, 
and began to read it over, making the neces- 
sary corrections with his pen as he did so. Though 
there was nothing that wiU be strange or start- 
ling to the reader in this letter, we feel obliged 
to quote a portion of it. 

“My Dear Mother; I mailed a short letter 
to you this morning, announcing our safe arrival 
at Belfast. I wrote that we had rescued a party 
in a dismasted yacht, out of sight of land, on 
the ocean ; but I had not time to give you the 
particulars of the affair, for I was very busy 
with our guests on board.” (Then followed a 
full account of the discovery of the Sea Foam, 
and of the subsequent events of the voyage up 
the Penobscot Bay.) “ One of the young ladies 
on board of her was Miss Kate Bilder, a beauti- 
ful girl of sixteen. Ben was delighted with her, 
and I think he is a little sweet on her. She is 
the only daughter of a retired ship-master, who 
has lost all his property by ‘being too honest,’ 
some people say. But of course I don’t believe 
that was the reason, for an honest beggar is 
better than a wealthy rogue.” (Then came a 
description of the rest of the rescued party.) 


198 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ In the morning Captain Bilder, Kate’s father, 
came on board, with some other people. He 
seemed to be absent-minded ; but this was ex- 
plained by the misfortune which had just over- 
taken him. He seemed to be startled^ when my 
name was given to him ; and I thought he ex- 
pressed more surprise at the name of the steamer 
than the occasion seemed to justify. He asked 
me about my father and mother. When I told 
him my father was a sailor, and that I was 
born at sea, he appeared to think it was very 
strange, though he did not say why he thought 
so. I was rather curious to know why he Avas 
so astonished, and I shall ask him or Kate about 
it when I have an opportunity. 

‘‘ To-day we had a splendid excursion to a 
]>lace called Turtle Head, less than an hour’s 
run from Belfast.” (Here were inserted a full 
history and description of the Dorcas Club.) 
“ Captain Bilder and Kate were both with us, 
and a spooney from New York city, by the name 
of Arthur McGusher, a regular swell ; and Ben 
j-jicks upon him a\vfully. Captain Bilder did not 
say anything to me about my father or the 
Ocean-Born ; but he asked Gerald Roach about 
my parents and my history. 1 was so busy look- 
ing after the party we had on board, that I had 
no opportunity to ask him any questions; but I 
shall probably have a chance to do so to-mor- 
row. 

“We have planned a grand excursion up the 
Penobscot to Bangor, Avith the Dorcas Club and 
the Yacht Club. We shall start in a day or 
two. In the mean time we are doing sy)len- 
didly. The houses of all the good people of 


OCEAN-BORN. 


199 


Belfast are open to us, and we have no end of 
invitations to dinner, to tea, to pass the even- 
ing ; and they even propose to get up a ball in 
honor of the officers of the Ocean-Born. Think 
of that, mother ! We are something, down here ! 
The people can’t do enough for us, and we can’t 
accept a tenth part of the invitations Ave receive. 
Ben is as funny as ever, and immensely popular 
with everybody except Mr. McG usher.” (An 
account of the trial in the fore-cabin of the 
steamer came next.) 

“ Now, my dear mother, you see what a good 
thing we made of it by coming to Belfast. I 
don’t think I ever met people I liked so well. 
As you know, I didn’t think of coming to this 
city, and for some reason or other I thought you 
did not wish me to do so. But I am glad we 
did come this way, instead of going up the other 
side of the bay, and stopping at Castine. We 
may go there on our way down. I shouldn’t 
have come to Belfast if it hadn’t been for tow- 
ing the Sea Foam here. As the party on board 
of her were in distress, you see, I could not de- 
cently do anything different, especially as it did 
not make much difference to us where we went 
to. It is after midnight, dear mother ; so good 
night. 

“ Your affectionate son, 

“ Neil Brandon.” 

^ The young commander put this long epistle 
into an envelope, directed it, and it was heavy 
enough to require an extra stamp. Leaving the 


I 


200 OCEAN-BORN. 

missive on the desk, to be mailed in the morn- 
ing, he indulged in a long gape, then turned 
in, and went to sleep, in which condition we 
are content to leave him till Mr. Peter Blossom 
rings the first bell in the morning. 

Whether Mr. Arthur McGusher slept well or 
not, he was up at five o’clock in the morning. 
So was Captain Bilder, from wdiich it may be 
inferred that his slumbers were disturbed by the 
memory of his financial misfortunes. 

“ You are up early, Mr. McGusher,” said the 
captain, as they met in the hall. 

“ Yes, saw ; I am an awly wiser,” replied the 
long-lost. 

“ I see you have your bag in your hand : are 
you going away ? ” asked the ship-master, think- 
ing it possible that his unwelcome guest might 
have become disgusted with the events of the 
preceding day, and intended to retire from the 
field. 

“Yes, saw, I’m going up to a place called 
Bangaw, to do a httle business for our house ; 
in shawt, as a dwummaw, saw, though I did not 
come heaw as a dwummaw,” answered Mr. Mc- 
, Gusher. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


201 


“Do you return to Belfast ? ” 

“ Pawsibly. Captain Bildaw. I have delivered 
the cawd, or, wather, the piece of a cawd, and 
you have another piece. I don’t know that you 
wish to see me again. You don’t seem to wec- 
ognize me as your long-lost son, though I bwing 
the vewy best of pwoof that I am your long-lost 
son.” 

“ I wish to investigate the matter a little, be- 
fore I decide finally.” 

“To be suaw, as much as you please. I will 
wetawn in a day or two, to lawn yaw final de- 
cision.” 

Mr. McGusher left the house, and walked 
down to the steamboat wharf. Captain Bilder 
did not like to lose sight of him. He desired 
to know if the young man wrote any letters, 
and if he did, to whom they were addressed. 
The long-lost had declared that he had not 
money enough fo pay his expenses during his 
proposed stay in Belfast; and it seemed very 
strange that he should make a trip to Bangor, 
especially if it was true that he was on his va- 
cation, as he alleged he was. Possibly his con- 
federates in the scheme were in Bangor. Still 


202 


OCEAN-BORN. 


thinkinj of the matter, he left the house and 
walked down to the wharf. Waiting there to 
take a passage in the steamer, he discovered a 
young man who was under great obligations to 
liim for certain favors extended to him in better 
days, and who fully recognized his debt of 
gratitude. 

“ Good morning. Captain Bild'er,” said Mon- 
roe, as they met. “Are you going up to 
Bangor? ” 

“ No ; but I wish I could, for I have impor- 
tant business.” 

“Can I do anything for you, captain? If I 
can, I shall be very glad to do it, as you know. 
I am going off on a little vacation, and it docs 
not make much difference to me where I go.” 

“ Thank you, Monroe. You can render me 
a great service,” replied Captain Bilder, earnest- 

ly- 

“ Then I hope you will let me render it. I 
thought I should stay a day or two in Bangor; 
and nothing would afford me more pleasure 
than to spend it in your service.” 

Thank you. I haven’t time to explain the 
nature of the business to you, for the steamer 


OCEAN-BORN. 


203 


is just coming in ; but I can tell you exactly 
what to do, and will show you what it all 
means at another time.” 

“I don’t desire to know any more than is 
necessary to enable me to do the business you 
require of me,” replied Monroe. 

“ I can do that. Do you see the young man 
in light clothes, with his hat badly jammed, and 
with a bag in his hand, standing by the cap ill 
of the wharf?” 

“ I see him : he is a regular swell ; and I 
have seen him before,” laughed Monroe. 

“ I want to know all he does, and whom ho 
meets, in Bangor. If he writes any letters, I 
particularly wish to know to whom he addresses 
them. I want the address in full.” 

“Dwill do the best I can,” answered the 
volunteer shadow ; ” and I think I can accom- 
plish all you desire.” 

“ Don’t let him see you speaking to me ; if 
he does he will be suspicious, perhaps. Let 
me have your information by mail as fast as 
you obtain it.” 

“I will not fail to do so,” said Monroe, as 
they separated. 


204 


OCEAN-BORN. 


The steamer had already made fast to the 
wharf, and the passengers in waiting went on 
board of her. TJie shadow ” overtook Mr. 
McGusher, and folio Aved him to the saloon. 
The latter, with a very magnificent air, gave his 
bag to a waiter, and then went to the breakfast 
table, where the meal was in process. Monroe 
kept close to him, and took the next seat at 
the table. 

“ May I twouble you for the buttaw ? ” said 
Mr. McGusher, as the meal proceeded. 

“Certainly, sir; Avith pleasure,” replied Mon- 
roe, with an exuberance of politeness which 
won the heart of the SAvell. 

“ It is a beautiful day for a trip up the river,” 
the shadoAV ventured, a little farther along, to 
say. 

“Vewy beautiful; and it’s- a fine wivaw, I’m 
told,” ansAvered Mr. McGusher, very graciously 
for a young man Avifch tAvo five-hundred dollar 
bills in his pocket. 

“ Not so fine as the Hudson, or even the Ken- 
nebec; but it’s a very pleasant sail up to Ban- 
gor. You seem to be a stranger in these 
parts.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


205 


“I am a stwangaw. Do you weside in Ban- 
gaw ? ” 

“No sir; in Belfast. I am the book-keeper 
of a bank there ; and I’m off just now on a 
little vacation.” 

“Just my case: I’m on a vacation. I’m a 
stwangaw in Bangaw. Can you tell me which 
is the best hotel thaw ? ” 

“ The Bangor House is as good as anything 
east of Portland.” 

“ Then I shall go thaw. One must have a 
good hotel, you know, or thaw is no fun in a 
vacation.” 

“Quite right, Mr — Mr — ” 

“ Mr. Arthur McGushaw, with the house of 
Hewlins & Heavybones, New Yawk city, at 
your sawvice,” replied the long-lost, producing 
one of his big pasteboards, as if to verify his 
statement. “And I have the honaw to addwess 
Mr.— 

“John Monroe.” 

“ Thanks, Mr. Mon woe. Now we know each 
othaw pawfectly.” 

Mr. McGusher was very much pleased with 
his new acquaintance ; and before the steamer 
arrived at Bangor, they had cemented what ap- 


206 


OCEAN-BORN. 


peared to be an everlasting friendship. Mon- 
roe made himself exceedingly agreeable ; and, 
fully understanding the man with whom he had 
to deal, he judiciously flattered him, and not 
only permitted, but encouraged him to believe 
that he was the most important personage who 
had visited the State of Maine for a long time. 
Indeed, they were so much in love with each 
other, -that they took a large room together at 
the hotel. 

“ I have come down heaw to have a good 
time, and I’m going to have it,” said Mr. Mc- 
Gusher, when they had taken possession of the 
handsome and pleasant apartment. 

“ Right, McGusher ! That’s just my case,” 
replied Monroe. 

“ I have plenty of time and plenty of money, 
added the swell. 

“ Unfortunately, I have more time than 
money. I can’t afford a very extravagant bat.” 

“ Nevaw mind, my boy. I’m glad I met 
you, and I have money enough for both of us.” 

Ordinarily, Monroe, who was really a high- 
toned fellow, would have objected to such an 
arrangement ; but in the present instance he 
did not. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


207 


“ Monwoe, ni}^ deaw fellaw, I’m in a little 
twouble, just now,” said Mr. McGusher, as 
they were about to leave the room. “ When I 
left New Yawk, I dwew five hundwed dollaws 
from the bank wheaw I had deposited my hawd 
awnings. They paid me in one biU. Having 
a five-hundwed dollaw bill is almost as bad as 
having no money at all.” 

‘"Not at all: you can change it at any bank,” 
replied Monroe. “ I know the bank people 
here, and I will get it done for you.” And he 
did get it done ; but he asked the teller to 
mark the bill, and hold it as long as he could. 

In the afternoon, the long-lost wrote a couple 
of letters, one of which he enclosed in the 
other. He directed it to “ Mrs. Mary Mc- 
Gusher, Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y.” It was 
mailed in the office of the hotel, but the ad- 
dress was promptly noted in the memorandum- 
book of the watchful Monroe. 

By dinner time the next day Captain Bilder 
knew that his “ long-lost son ” had changed a 
five-hundred dollar bill at Bangor, and written 
a letter, enclosed in another, directed to “Mrs. 
Mary McGusher, of Goshen, N. Y. 


208 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


CHAPTER XL 

TWO IMPOETANT LETTEES. 

T DON’T like to leave you all alone, father,” 
I said Kate Bilder, on the day the cruise 
of the clubs up the Penobscot was to be com- 
menced. 

“ I shall be so busy for the next few days, 
that you will not see much of me, and I think 
you had better go with your friends,” replied 
her father, who wished her to go, and was 
unwilling to have her sacrifice the pleasure of 
the excursion, when she could not assist him by 
doing so. 

So it was decided that she should take her 
place as leader of the Lily. As some of the 
girls were poor, it had been decided that the 
expenses should be paid from the club treasury, 
in which there was a surplus, after paying for 
the last boat thej^ needed. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


209 


It was Tuesday mornings several days after 
Mr. McGusher had started for Bangor. Monroe 
wrote every day in regard to the swell’s move- 
ments, but no further information of any value 
was obtained. The young exquisite was spending 
his money with as much haste as the circum- 
stances would permit. lie drove fast horses, and 
ate and drank the best the hotel afforded. 

When the mail came that day, it brought 
several important letters, two of which deserve 
a notice before we start with the clubs. One 
was addressed to Captain Bilder, and was post- 
marked at Goshen, N. Y. 

“Whom is that from, father?” asked Kate, 
as she handed him the letter. 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. I’m not aware that 
I know any person in Goshen. That’s where 
McGusher said he used to live,” replied the ship- 
master, as he opened the letter. 

“ Perhaps it is from some friend of Mr. Mc- 
Gusher,” added Kate, deeply interested. 

“Very hkely it is,” continued Captain Bilder, 
as he read the letter, and a smile played upon 
his face. 

“ What is it, father ? ” 


210 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ I will read it to you. It is really very 
funny under the circumstances.” 

“Captain R. Bilder. My dear Sir; In re- 
ply to your letter, addressed to Borden Green, 
Esq., — who has requested me to give you the 
information for which you seek, — I would say, 
that Mr. Arthur McGusher is well known in 
Goshen as a very respectable and highly intelli- 
gent young man. He was brought up in the 
family of Mr. Amos P. Chessman, who died 
nearly three years ago, with hydrophobia, having 
been bitten by a mad dog, and suffered terribly 
before he gave up the ghost. Before his death, 
however, Mr. Arthur McGusher — who exhibited 
very great commercial abilities, was well educated, 
and of elegant manners — was placed in the large 
mercantile house of Hewlins & Heavybones, 
4928 Broadway, New York. I have made some 
inquiries in that part of the town where Mr. 
Chessman lived, — for his farm was not in the 
village of Goshen. I found several persons who 
knew the family well. They all said Mr. Chess- 
man had taken Mr. McGusher from an orphan 
asylum in New York city, when he was six or 
seven years old. They had no means of know- 
ing how the child happened to be in the asylum, 
but it was there, and Mrs. Chessman thought it 
was too pretty to stay there. 

“I have answered your letter at the earliest 
moment possible after I had made ti e necessary 
inquiries. 

“ Yours truly, for Borden Green, 

“ T. K. Bunker.” 

“ Goshen, July 28, 107-.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


2K 


“There, Kate, what do you think of that?” 
laughed Captain Bilder, when he had finished 
the reading of the letter. 

“ I don’t understand it, father,” she replied. 

“Well, I think it is not difficult to under- 
stand.” 

“You told me you should write no letter of 
this kind to Borden Green.” 

“ And I did not.” 

“ Then who is T. K. Bunker ? ” 

“ He is a myth, like Amos P. Chessman and 
his family.” 

“ Where did that letter come from ? ” 

“ It was sent from Bangor to Goshen, to be 
re-mailed there.” 

“ That is very strange.” 

“ Not at all. Mr. McGusher wrote this letter 
himself.” 

“ Why, father ! ” 

“It is a very plain case. I understand it per- 
fectly ; quite as well as I should if Mr. Mc- 
Gusher had confessed to me exactly how he did 
it — the simpleton ! He does not know enough 
to cover his own tracks.” 

“ But father, that letter may be genuine.” 


212 


OCBAN-BOKN. 


“Impossible, Kate! Do you remember bow 
it began — ‘ In reply to your letter addressed to 
Borden Green.’ I haven’t written any letter to 
Borden Green on this subject ; only to the firm 
in New York, inquiring about the third piece 
of the card. Mr. McGusher was doubtless satisfied 
that I had written such a letter to my former 
banker at Goshen, and has prepared his reply to 
it. He has overreached himself. If I had really 
written such a letter, he might have known that 
Borden Green would also answer it, and thus 
assure me that this letter is a fraud ; at least, I 
suppose so, though he may have had some means 
of preventing such an exposure.” 

“ I didn’t think Mr. McGusher was smart 
enough to play such a trick,” added Kate. 

“It is anything but smart ; on the contrary, I 
think it is rather stupid. He set a trap which 
he was sure to fall into, in any event. If I 
wrote no letter, he betrays himself to me ; if I 
did write one, Borden Green will betray him to 
me. It is about as broad as it is long. But I 
haven’t given, you all the information I have 
obtained, Kate.” 

“I thought you had told me everything, 
father.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


213 


“I did tell you everything up to the depart- 
ure of Mr. McGusher for Bangor,” added Cap- 
tain Bilder, taking several of Monroe’s letters 
from his pocket. “You have been away with 
the boat club so much for several days, or some 
of the officers of the Ocean-Born have been here 
when you were at home, that I have not had a 
chance to talk with you. I like to see you 
• yourself, Kate, while you may, so I did 

not say anything to you.” • 

“ \Yliat did Mr. McGusher go to Bangor for?” 
asked Kate, curiously. 

“ That was the very question which excited 
my curiosity and interest,” replied Captain Bil- 
der. “ He told me he had not money enough 
to pay his expenses a single week in Belfast, and 
his fare back to New York. In other words, 
he asked me for money, which I refused to give 
or lend him. I thought it was very strange that 
he should wish to go to Bangor, and that, if 
his firm sent him there on business, as he says, 
he was not supplied with money for this pur- 
pose. I came to the conclusion that he had a 
confederate in Bangor, though I am inclined to 
think now that I was mistaken. A friend of 


214 


OCEAN-EORN. 


mine consented to act as a shadow for me, as 
he was going to Bangor, and these letters con- 
tain the result of his investigations. Only two facts 
in them are of any particular consequence. One 
is, that he mailed a letter to Mrs. Mary Mc- 
Gusher in Goshen ; and this letter enclosed 
another.” 

“ The one which has just come to you from 
Goshen ? ” added Kate, her bright eyes lighted 
up with intelligence. 

Undoubtedly ; and I have no doubt it reached 
Goshen in thirty hours after it was mailed, and 
then started for Belfast by the next mail.” 

“ It all looks very plain.” 

“ Nothing could be more so.” 

“But who is Mrs. Mary McGusher ? ” 

“I don’t know; perhaps his mother. But I 
think we have got hold of something now. 
This Mrs. McGusher in Goshen is probably his 
confederate, and will be able to tell me some- 
thing about the card in three pieces, and the 
letter I received ten years ago. Probably she 
wrote the letter which the simpleton brought to 
me. Monroe gives me another piece of infor- 
mation which is interesting, though it may have 


OCEAN-BORN. 


215 


no bearing on this question. Mr. McGusher had 
a five-hundred dollar bill when he arrived at 
Bangor.” 

“Where did he get so much money?” asked 
Kate, breathless with astonishment. 

“ That is what perplexes me. Monroe is sure 
he did not obtain it in Bangor, and he must 
have had it when he was in Belfast.” 

“ But he told you he had no money, or only 
a little.” 

“ He does not appear to scruple at telling a 
lie.” 

“Where could he have obtained so much 
money ? ” 

“ I am sure I don’t know. A young fellow like 
him, working in a store, don’t often have five 
hundred dollars ; and not many rich men are so 
liberal as ^to pass out so large a sum to their 
sons at one time. That fellow needs watching, 
and I am sorry I am not able just now to keep 
an eye on him.” 

The door bell rang at this moment, and the 
servant admitted some one. It is said that a 
certain spirit of evil is always near when one is 
speaking of him. Though this may not be 


216 


OCEAN-BOBN. 


strictly a fact, it seems to be true that he is 
sometimes at hand under the conditions named. 
At any rate, Mr. Arthur McGusher was an- 
nounced, and presently entered the sitting-room, 
adjoining the library. 

“ Good mawning. Captain Bildaw,” said he, 
flippantly, as the ship-master entered the room, 
followed by Kate. 

He bowed very low, and displayed the most 
extraordinary politeness to the young lady, who 
was ingenuous enough to treat him as coolly as 
her gentle nature would permit. 

“ Good morning, Mr. McGusher. I hope you . 
are quite well,” replied the captain. 

“ Nevaw bettaw.” 

“ When did you return ? ” 

“ I wetawned on the boat, yestawday aftaw- 
noon,” answered the swell, assuming a rather 
lofty air towards his “ long-lost father.” 

“ You conclude, then, not to occupy a room 
in my house ? ” 

“Yes, saw; such was my conclusion. I was 
not quite sure that I was welcome in this house, 
and I took a room at the best hotel. A gentle- 
man of fine feelings don’t like to intwude whaw 


OCEAN-BORN. 


217 


he is not wanted, you see,” added Mr. Mc- 
Gusher, with a supercilious toss of his head. 

“ I see ; but the room was at your service.” 

“ I was hawdly tweated with the cawjality 
which a long-lost son might weasonably expect,” 
continued the swell, toying with his incipient 
mustache. “ I thought I had a wight to expect 
genawous tweatment undaw the sawcumstances. 
I bwought abundant pwoof that I was your 
long-lost son.” 

‘‘ Well, Mr. McGusher, I desired to investigate 
the matter before I gave a final answer to a 
question of so much importance ; but I am happy 
to say now that I have the means of doing so 
without troubling you to remain any longer in 
this city.” 

“Indeed!” exclaimed the long-lost, as though 
this remark was a surprise to him ; but he con- 
cluded that the ‘means’ alluded to was the 
letter he had received from Goshen. 

“ As you observed to me that your funds were 
rather short, I am unwilling to subject you to 
any further expense ; for as I told you before, 
my circumstances are so changed that I am 
unable to advance you any money.” 


218 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Quite unnecessary to do so now. I was 
shawt, but I telgwaplied to my fa win in New 
Yawk, and have weceived a wemittance. I 
desiawed to spend the wemaindaw of my vaca- 
tion in this state.” 

“Of course you can do as you please about 
that. I have only to say that I am a beggar 
myself, and I can do nothing for you,” added 
the captain. 

“A beggaw! My deaw fawthaw, all that I 
have is thine!” 

“ I don’t mean that I am literally a beggar ; 
only that I have lost all my property.” 

“ My dear fawthaw, though I was shawt the 
othaw day, I am no longaw so. Would you do 
me the favaw to accept a gift or a loan of one 
or two hundred dollaws ? ” said Mr. McGusher, 
drawing his wallet. “ I can do it just as well 
as not.” 

“ No ; I am not reduced to that extremity. I 
cannot accept charity, or borrow what I may 
not be able to pay.” 

“ It would afford me vewy gweat pleas3^aw.” 

“You seem to be quite flush.” 

“ I have money enough faw pwesent uses, 
and a little to help my fawthaw.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


219 


“ I don’t need any help just now,” added the 
captain, rather sharply. “You must have had a 
large remittance. I heard that you changed a 
five-liundred dollar hill in Bangor.” 

Mr. McGusher turned a little pale, and felt 
he had been imprudent in offering to produce 
one or two hundred dollars. And how could 
Captain Bilder know that he had changed a five- 
hundred dollar bill in Bangor ? for Monroe had 
not yet returned to Belfast. It was no use to 
deny it, for the cashier of the bank where the 
bill had been changed might have furnished the 
information. 

“ Yes, saw ; I had a five-hundwed dollaw bill. 
I bwought it with me from New Yawk. It was 
the fwoot of my hawd awnings. I did not mean 
to use it on this twip. I thought my honawed 
fawthaw would help me out. As he did not, I 
had to use it,” explained the long-lost. 

“ I thought 3^ou had a remittance from your 
firm,” laughed Captain Bilder.” 

Even Mr. McGusher was willing to acknowl- 
edge to himself that he had been remarkably 
stupid. While he was thinking only how he 
should account for the five hundred dollar bib, 
he forgot all about the remittance. It is a fact 


220 


OCEAN-BORN. 


that liars almost always trip themselves up, though 
they do not often convict themselves so glar- 
ingly as in this instance. It is not safe to lie, 
to say nothing of the wickedness of doing so. 

“ The wemittance was for anothaw pawpose, 
you see,” the swell added. 

“ I see,” added the captain, shrugging his 
shoulders ; “ but it is hardly necessary to continue 
the conversation.” 

Captain Bilder knew nothing about the firm 
of llewhns & Heavybones, 4928 Broadway, but 
he was afraid that “ their representative ” in 
Maine had been guilty of peculation upon them. 
He felt it to be his duty to inform them of the 
fact that their employe had changed a five- 
hundred dollar bill in Bangor ; and he desired 
to obtain what information he could in regard 
to Mr. McGusher. 

“ Of cawse, I do not wish to continue the 
convawsation. Captain Bilder, I shall wemaiii at 
the hotel, and not twouble you with my pwes- 
ence,” replied Mr. McGusher, who doubtless 
thought this would be a severe deprivation to 
his long-lost father. 

“ Certainly ; remain there, if you prefer.” 

“But I undawstand that the yacht club and 


OCEAN-BOR]^. 


221 


the Dawcas club are to make an excawsion up 
the wivaw,” added the long lost, more briskly. 
“ I should be happy to join them.” 

“ That is their affair, not mine.” 

“ But as yaw son pwesumptive, you would 
favaw me with an intwoduction to some meni- 
baws of the yacht club, who would be glad to 
invite me.” 

“You must excuse me, Mr. McGusher. I 
have no influence with them,” replied the ship- 
master, very decidedly. 

“ Aw, Miss Kate ! ” said the long-lost, ap- 
proaching her as she stood at the door, “you 
pwomised to intwoduce me to all the young 
ladies of the Dawcas club. I desiaw to join 
this excawsion.” 

“ I have no authority to invite any one, and 
I think that the clubs are to have no invited 
guests,” replied Kate, her eyes twinkling Avith 
mischief. “ The yachts, are all full ; but I tliink 
there is room in the steamer — the Ocean-Born.” 

“But that howwid Mr. Lunder — I beg your 
paAvdon, if he is a friend of yours,” protested 
Mr. McGusher. 

“ He is a friend of mine,” answered Kate, 
Avarmly ; and her face flushed a little. 


222 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


“ I desiaw to go on the excawsion, but not 
with Mr. Lundaw.” 

“ I think there is no chance to go except on 
the steamer.” 

“But I have detawmined to go,” added the 
long-lost, taking the new white hat he had 
bought in Bangor, from the table. “ I think 
most of the young ladies, when the}^ know me 
bettaw, would be delighted to have me go.” 

Even Mr. McGusher could not help feeling 
that he had been snubbed by father and daugh- 
ter — “his fawthaw and his sistaw ; ” and lie 
took his leave of Kate. 

“ I beg your pawdon. Captain Bildaw,” he 
added, turning to her father ; “ but have you 
heard from your friend Bawden Gween, at his 
country place in Goshen ? ” 

“ Not from him, but I have a letter from T. 
K. Bunker, in Goshen, who informs me that you 
lived in the Chessman family, and that you were 
taken from a lunatic asylum.” 

“ A what ? ” gasped Mr. McGusher. “A lu- 
natic asylum ! ” 

“ I beg your pardon — an orphan asylum.” 

“ Aw ! quite anothaw thing.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


223 


“ Quite different, I grant. If the statements 
of this letter are to be relied upon, your story 
is entirely true.” 

“ Of cawse it is ; and of cawse you aw sat- 
isfied.” 

“ Not exactly satisfied. I have not yet heard 
from Borden Green & Co. in regard to the third 
piece of the card. If you are to remain in Belfast, 
I shall see you in a few days. I must leave 
you now.” 

Mr. McGusher left the house. He could not 
see why Captain Bilder and his daughter did 
not take him to their loving arms, and shriek 
out, “ My long-lost son ! ” “ My long-lost 

brother ! ” But they did not, though the evi- 
dence ought to be enough to satisfy them. Mr. 
McGusher wished to bask in the smiles of the 
five-and-twenty young ladies who formed the 
Dorcas club. He was quite positive that he 
should make a sensation among them as soon as 
they knew him — it could not be otherwise; for 
he was entirely conscious of his blandishments 
as a lady-killer. He had seen the girls in these 
boats, and he envied the fellows who enjoyed 
their acguaintance- Kate could introduce him, 


224 


OCEAN-BORN. 


but he was painfully conscious that she was un- 
der the influence of that “ howwid Lundaw.” 
The wretch had prejudiced her against him, the 
“long-lost brother.’’ He believed that he full}' 
understood Ben’s tactics. Ben realized what a 
fascinating fellow he — Mr. McGusher — was ; and 
that was the foundation of his prejudice against 
him. The long-lost knew that all the ladies in 
New York were fond of him ; and why should 
they not be in Belfast — ladies were the same all 
the world over. Ben wanted to be the shin- 
light among them himself, and he was afraid 
that one with the personal and social attractions 
of A. McGusher would pale his star, outshine 
him, cast him into an eclipse. With this view 
of the situation, he was determined not to be kept 
outside of the charmed circle. He had plenty 
of money in his pocket, and since he could not 
go up the river with the party, he would go up 
like a lord. Monroe had informed him that there 
was a small steamer in the harbor which was 
sometimes let for parties at fifty dollars a day, 
which sum included the services of a pilot, en- 
gineer, and cook. His next business was to find 
and engage this steamer. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


225 


So much for the letter which Captain Bilder 
received, and the events which immediately fol- 
lowed it. Captain Neil Brandon also received an 
important letter on the morning the clubs were 
to start for Bangor. It was from his mother ; and 
with the letter in his hand he retired to his 
state-room to read it. Some extracts from it are 
necessary to the development of our story. 

“ I did not wish you to go to Belfast in your 
steamer, for reasons which I cannot now ex- 
plain, though I cannot find fault with you for 
so doing, under the circumstances,” wrote Madam 
Brandon. “ It was your duty to save and to 
assist those who were in distress, and I know 
the noble heart of my boy. But I am sorry you 
went there ; at least, I am sorry you did not 
leave the place as soon as you finished your 
business there. ... You wrote me a great 
deal about Captain Bilder and his daughter. 
They are the very persons whose acquaintance 
I was afraid you would make, if you went to 
Belfast. For reasons which I cannot explain 
now, I do not wish you to have anything to do 
with them. Now, my dear boy, I wish to ap- 
peal to you as your mother. You will do what 


226 


OCEAN-BORN. 


I desire, and without asking any questions. I 
want you to have nothing more to do or say to 
the Bilders. You must leave Belfast as soon as 
you get this letter, and at once close your ac- 
quaintance with them. Of course I do not ex- 
pect you to be rude or ungentlemanly towards 
them ; only to keep away from them, and keep 
them away from yourself. It would worry me 
into my grave, if I thought you would not heed 
my wishes in this matter. But my dear boy 
will do just what I ask of him — I know he 
will. 

“ One thing more, dear Neil : you must be 
sure and not say a word to Captain Bilder or 
his daughter about what I have written ; no,t a 
word nor a hint that I have asked you to avoid 
them. I am very much troubled about this 
matter. I did not sleep a wink last night after 
I read your letter, and I am strongly tempted 
to start at once for Belfast myself, in order to 
be sure that you heed what I say ; and as it is, 
1 may go to Bangor in a day or two, in order 
to meet you there when you arrive. Now, my 
dear boy, do not neglect your mother’s solemn 
request, and when I see you again, I will ex- 
plain everything.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


227 


“ That’s very odd ! ” exclaimed Neil, when he 
had finished the letter. “ Why is my mother 
afraid of Captain Bilder and his daughter?” 

He read the letter again and again, but it 
afforded no clew to the motive of Madam Bran- 
don’s extraordinary request. 


228 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


CHAPTER XII, 


UP THE PENOBSCOT, 


ERHAPS because it was not considered just 



1 the thing for so many young people to 
go off alone, Captain Patterdale and Dr. Darling 
volunteered to accompany them, going as passen- 
gers in the steamer. Several of the parents of 
the girls had objected mildly to the arrangement, 
fearing that some of the young men or the young 
ladies might be a little too wild if they were 
entirely unrestrained by the presence of any 
older person. Captain Patterdale insisted that 
they needed a business agent, and he went in 
this capacity, while Dr. Darling’s services were 
absolutely required as a physician and surgeon, in 
case of accident or sudden illness to any mem- 
ber of the party. 

The distance to be accomplished was about 
forty miles, and it was not yet decided whether 


OCEAN-BORN. 


229 


the boat clubs would row the whole distance or 
not. The fair rowists were to do as they pleased ; 
but most of them were so ambitious that they 
desired to pull the whole of the way, especially 
as the excursion was to be one continuous frolic. 
The Ocean-Born was at anchor off Don John’s 
wharf, and at ten o’clock her steam was up, 
ready for a start. The members of the boat 
clubs were gathering on the pier, near the boat- 
house, each with a small bag or bundle contain- 
ing the few needed articles for the journey, 
and a water-proof. They were to encumber 
themselves with no extra dresses ; the blue flan- 
nel uniform was to answer for service in the 
boats, and for parties on shore, if they went to 
any. All the shore arrangements were to be 
made by Captain Patterdale, and the members 
did not even know what they were to be. The 
bags and bundles were stowed away in the boats, 
though Neil Brandon offered to carry them on 
board of the steamer. 

One after another the beautiful barges shot 
out from the wharf, with their colors flying, 
until all of them were in line outside of the 
Ocean-Born. All the yachts that were to par- 


230 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


ticipate — six in number — were ready to trip 
their anchors and run up their jibs. 

Captain Neil Brandon was in the pilot-house 
of the steamer, ready to start the boat, for she 
was to follow the fleet of the Dorcas Club. As 
the Lily darted past the Ocean-Born, Kate 
Bilder waved her handkerchief to him, and he 
returned the salute by swinging his cap. He 
could not help thinking of what his mother had 
written to him ; and he permitted Ben Lunder, 
who was on the forecastle, to indulge without 
a comment in more extravagant demonstrations. 
Why should his mother wish him to shun the 
Bilders ? Both the father and the daughter were 
held in the highest esteem and regard in the 
city, even in spite of the loss of fortune which 
had overtaken the ship-master. What had Cap- 
tain Bilder done ? Certainly the fair Kate could 
have done nothing wrong. He had never heard 
his mother mention the Bilders before, and he 
did not know that she had ever been in Belfast. 

In this connection Neil could not help think- 
ing of his first interview with Captain Bilder, 
in which that gentleman had manifested so 
much surprise when he mentioned the name of 




The Lily passing the Ocean-Born- Page 230 




OCEAN-BORN. 


231 


his father, and also at the name of the steamer. 
He recalled the questions which the ship-master 
had asked him, and he was convinced that there 
was some sort of a relation between Captain Bil- 
der and his mother. Madam Brandon had 
entreated him to leave Belfast at once, and avoid 
the Bilders. He was not to speak to them, 
but he was enjoined not to be rude to them. 
Perhaps Neil was not entirely satisfied with the 
character of his obedience to his mother, though 
he was now on the point of leaving Belfast. 
Certainly it would be rude for him, now that 
the arrangements were all made, to back out, 
especially as he could give no reasonable excuse 
for doing so. He would avoid Kate as much as 
he could without being rude to her ; but it must 
be acknowledged this was not so difficult a task 
as it would have been for Ben Lunder. Neil 
was particularly glad that he had not been 
called upon to avoid the fascinating Minnie Dar- 
ling, for he had spent most of the evenings of 
his stay at Belfast in her father’s house. 

“ A gun from the foreto’ -gallant forecastle of 
the Skylark ! ” shouted Ben Lunder. “ Stand by 
the main-royal mud-hook ! Stand by your top- 


232 


OCEAN-BORN. 


sail toggle-joints ! Tip up your topping-lifts ! 
Bobble to your bolt-ropes ! 

“ What’s the matter, Ben ? ” asked the captain. 

“A gun from the yacht of the mighty com- 
modore of the squadron.” 

“ I heard it ; I’m not deaf.” 

“Only a little blind in your starboard ear. 
There go the yachts like a moon-raker in a 
hurricane. Booms and bobstays ! They go it 
as lively as a dolphin-striker paddling his owii 
canoe in a nor-nor-wester.” 

“ Let fall ! ” was the signal from the Dorcas, 
and the oars of the five club boats dropped into 
the water as one. “ Give way together ! ” 
And off went the beautiful craft abreast of each 
other, the girls pulling a gentle stroke, which 
gave them a speed of about three miles an 
liour. 

“ Ah, what is this earth but paradise ! espe- 
cially the watery part of it ? ” exclaimed Ben, 
clasping his hands to emphasize his rapture. 
“ Bless them ! beaming like silver stars on my 
dewy toplights ! ” 

“ Call all hands, Ben, to get up the anchor ! ” 
shouted Neil from the pilot-house. 


OOEAN-BORN. 


23 ^ 


“All you starbowlines, ahoy!” yelled Ben. 
“ Break for the forecastle and heave up the 
anchor ! ” 

Martin Roach was the first to respond to this 
call, and placed himself at the little donkey en- 
gine on the forecastle. Though the anchor Avas 
not so very heavy, it would have been a long 
and hard job for the four young fellows who 
were available for this duty to heave it up by 
hand. As only two, or three at most, could be 
spared for this task when only the four owners 
were on a cruise, in the Delaware, the donkey 
engine had been provided for this and other 
heavy work. Several turns were taken in the 
cable over the drum of the windlass, the young 
engine puffed, and in a moment the anchor was 
at the hawse-hole. 

“ Anchor’s a weigh ! ” said Martin. 

Neil rang one bell, and the Ocean-Born went 
ahead slowly. Ben and Berry Owen washed the 
mud from the anchor with an old broom, and 
it was hoisted up on an iron fish-davit by the 
engine, and then lowered to its usual resting- 
place on the forecastle. The cable was coiled 
away neatly by the deck-hand, the planks swept 


234 


OCEAN-BORN. 


off, and everything was made as tidy as a lady’s 
parlor. There was no more regular work to be 
done for the- next two or three hours. 

‘‘Well, Ben, how do you feel to-day?” asked 
Captain Patterdale, as the deck-hand ascended 
to the hurricane-deck, where the two passengers 
were seated. 

“ In good order and condition, like a ship 
ready for a long voyage,” replied Ben. “ 1 
stowed away a full cargo of mutton chops, 
broiled ham, fish-balls, fried cunners, omelets, 
boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, and a few other 
delicate notions, for breakfast this morning, and 
I feel as though I could keep tolerably cheerful 
till dinner time, though I shall be ready to take 
off the hatches for lunch by meridian.” 

“ Do you call that a full cargo ? ” laughed 
Captain Patterdale. “ I should think you would 
wish to eat something for your breakfast.” 

“ I do, as a rule. This ballasting the ship 
with live geese feathers is not just the thing ; 
still they fill up the vessel from the fore-gar- 
board streak up to the main-royal benders,” re- 
plied Ben, soberly. “ Ever since I began to go 
to sea, skotch my sky-scrapers, if I haven’t been 


OCEAN-BORN. 


235 


huligry, and at almost any time of day or night 
I can stow away provender.” 

“ In other words, you need ballast.” 

“Exactly so, sir. Ballast is the great moral, 
mental, and social regulator. Because G. Wasl?.- 
ington had ballast in the hold, he was able to 
keep an even keel. G. W. was an old salt, like 
me. That exciting nautical scene, of which he 
is the central figure, the crossing of the Dela- 
ware, proves that he was a great navigator, to 
say nothing of the happy manner in which he 
crossed over from Long Island when things didn’t 
work just right. G. W. ballasted his craft, and 
it is a memorable historical fact that he was 
always able to tell the truth on a full stomach. 
In my opinion, when a committee in Congress 
intend to investigate a case of corruption, it 
would be a wise plan to give the witnesses a 
good breakfast or a good dinner, for a man can 
tell the truth better on a full stomach than on 
an empty one.” 

“I dare say you are right, Ben; but I have 
not investigated your philosophy,” added the lis- 
tener. 

“ I know I am right, sir. A philosopher don’t 


236 


OCEAN-I ORN. 


amount to an thing if he has any doubts about 
his philosophy.” 

“ The subject is rather heavy for a pleasure 
excursion,” laughed Captain Patterdale. “ How 
fast are we going, Ben ? ” 

“Not over ten knots.” 

“ That’s a safe answer.” 

“ I am opposed to loose statements ; my stomach 
is full, and I cannot tell a lie.” 

“Not over two knots and a half, I should 
say,” added Captain Patterdale. 

“ Life is a voyage, and we are but the sailors,” 
said Ben, looking as wise and solemn as an owl. 
“ He is a prudent tar who often heaves the log. 
‘ How fast are we going?’ That was your co- 
nundrum, sir. I shall take it as my first text 
when I write a sermon. I am fond of nautical 
figures, you know. My tongue is reeking with 
salt, and I can’t help indulging in sea slang. 
How fast are we going ? ” repeated Ben, with 
a fiourish and a gesture. 

“ About two knots and a half, Ben.” 

“ I was looking to the moral significance of 
the conundrum.” 


“ O, the sermon ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


^>1 

“Yes, sir. As I should probably be preach- 
ing it to an audience of landlubbers, lollipops, 
and greenhorns, I should first explain the nau'd- 
cal meaning of the expression. As you are a sail- 
or, I need not do so in your case. I should say to 
the young man, ‘ How fast are you going ? ’ If 
you don’t know, heave the log. If you can’t 
tell how fast you are going, you don’t know how 
near you are to the sunken ledge of Dissipa- 
tion. You can’t tell how the shoals of Dis- 
honesty begir. If you haven’t the means of 
making up your dead reckoning, you may be 
running for the reef of Destruction. You 
can’t take the sun when you get out into the 
fog of Moral Indifference.” 

“That will make a very good sermon; but I 
trust you will see the necessity of heaving the 
lead in such a dangerous sea as you describe.” 

“ Heave the lead shall be the text of another 
sermon, for I can’t afford to put all my subjects 
into one. The young man must heave the log, 
and if he don’t go any faster than the Ocean- 
Born at this moment, he wiU be in no danger 
of becoming a fast young man.” 

Neil Brandon had given the helm to Berry 


238 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Owen, and joined the party on the hurricane 
deck. He had listened to a part of Ben’s 
speech, and perhaps he was glad to have his 
friend show that there was something in his 
composition besides nonsense. 

“Der gook dinks you petter told us how 
much beoples you haf to dinner in der gabins 
to-day,” said Karl, addressing the captain. 

“ I shall invite the twenty -five members of 
the Dorcas Club to dine on board,” replied 
NeiL 

“ No, no, captain ! ” interposed Captain Pat- 

terdale ; “ you will upset all my arrangements 

€ 

if you do that,” 

“ What are your plans, sir ? ” 

“ For the present I must ask you to excuse 
me, and not get dinner for anybody,” replied 
the managing agent. 

“But I intended to feed the ladies on board 
the Ocean-Born.” 

“ Perhaps you ma}^ have the opportunity to- 
morrow, but not to-day.” 

Neil submitted, aod Karl was not sorry to bo 
spared the labor of setting the table. The 
breeze was tolerably fresh, and the fleet of 


OCEAN-BORX. 


239 


yachts was by this time a mile ahead of the 
Dorcas Club. The water was rather rough for 
the boats in, this part of the bay, though they 
were all doing very well. They were now 
pulling “by twos,” with the Dorcas ahead. 

“ I should think those young ladies would be 
tired,” said Neil, after they had been rowing 
about an hour. 

“ They are used to it ; but they are advised 
not to pull over an hour without a rest,” re- 
plied Captain Patterdale. “ Their muscles have 
been trained ; and at the stroke they pull, it is 
not so hard work as it is to sweep a carpet, 
run a sewing machine, or even to sew. The 
air gives them strength, and they don’t hurry. 
A stout boy could pull one of those boats as 
fast as they are going, and without any great 
exertion. I am told that those who are still 
pupils in the High School get their lessons bet- 
ter than before they engaged in this exercise ; 
and certainly their health is much improved.” 

At this moment the boats stopped to take the 
rest enjoined upon them. The girls boated 
their oars, and the Ocean-Born steamed around 
them, going near enough to engage in a chat 
with them. 


210 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ O that I were a member of that club ! ” 
said Ben, as the steamer passed the Lily. 

“ We will take you as a passenger for a time,” 
replied Kate- Bilder. 

“ Roses and posies ! may I have that bliss ? ” 

“ You may.” 

The steamer was stopped, and the Lily 
backed up to her gangway. Ben leaped lightly 
into the stern-sheets. Captain Brandon was 
invited to accept a place in the Dorcas, and he 
did so. 

“We should be glad to take a passenger,” 
said Jenny Waite, in the Fairy. 

“ Whom? ” laughed Captain Patterdale. 

“ Mr. Berry Owen,” 

“ But he must steer,” added Neil. 

“ Mr. Gerald Roach, then.” 

The engineer was at liberty then, and took 
his place on the Fairy. 

The boats went off by twos again, and the 
steamer followed ; but it was observed that the 
three which contained passengers did not keep 
their places in the procession as well as be- 
fore. 

“ Now, really, I don’t feel just right to sit 


OCEAN-BORN. 


241 


here, and see four ladies pulling before me,” 
said Ben. “ I am like a selfish fly in a sugar- 
bowl, enjoying all the sweets.” 

“lYe are satisfied, and you ought to be,” re- 
plied Kate. “ Do you know how far we are 
going to-day, Mr. Lunder.” 

“ I do not ; but the high and mighty manag- 
ing agent has a plan which he keeps to him- 
self. I have never navigated these waters, and 
I don’t know which way the cat-harpings 
point.” 

“ I hope we shall stop at Fort Point,” said 
one of the fair rowists. 

“ That is a delightful place ” added Kate. 
“ There is a new hotel on the Point.” 

“How far is it from Belfast?” asked Ben. 

Not more than ten miles.” 

“We shall be there all too soon,” sighed the 
old salt, as he glanced at Kate. “ I may not 
again be permitted to take passage on this ce- 
lestial barge, pulled by peris from paradise. 
What steamer is that approaching?” 

“That is an excursion steamer from Belfast. 
She takes out parties,” replied Kate, after glanc- 
ing at the boat. 


242 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ She seems to be headed towards this celes- 
tial fleet.” 

“ Perhaps she is going up to Bangor,” sug- 
gested Kate. 

Half an hour later, the steamer came up 
abreast of the fleet of boats, and slowed down 
so as to keep alongside. It was rather a pretty 
craft, so far as white, blue, and red paint could 
make her so. Her name, painted under the 
front windows of her pilot-house, was the 
“ Monogram.” She was a small screw steamer, 
with a cabin aft, and a cook-room in her fore- 
castle. On the hurricane-deck, which was railed 
in, and provided with seats, walked with folded 
arms, in solitary grandeur, Mr. Arthur Mc- 
Gusher. He was not to be cheated out of the 
pleasures of the excursion up the Penobscot by 
the swinishness of Ben Lunder, to whom alone 
he attributed his exclusion from the party. 

“As I live, there is Mr. McGusher ! ” ex- 
claimed Kate, as she recognized her “long-lost 
brother.” 

“And he seems to be the only passenger,” 
added Ben. 

At this moment, Mr. McGusher caught the 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


243 


eye of Kate, and taking off his new white hat, 
he hewed very low, and flourished with his 
right hand. Kate nodded to him, but bestowed 
no further notice upon him. 

“Ladies, yaw most obedient! I hope I see 
you vewy well this mawning,” said the long- 
lost. 

No one in the Lily made any reply. Mr. Mc- 
Gusher descended to the main deck, and took a 
position near the pilot-house. Seeing Ben in 
the Lily, he did not continue the conversation. 
The Monogram then dropped astern, till she 
was abreast of the Psyche, whose name Mr. 
McGusher spelled out from his position. 

“ Chickee, ahoy ! ” said he, taking off his hat 
again, and indulging in a tremendous flourish. 

Mr. McGusher was not deeply versed in my- 
thology, and had never read the story of Cupid 
and Psyche. His spelling of the name of the 
beautiful maiden who became immortal resulted 
in nothing more classic than “ Chickee.” Carrie 
West, the leader of the boat, made no reply, 
for she did not know what the gentleman in the 
white hat meant. 

“ In the Chickee I ” called Mr. McGusher. 


244 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Are you speaking to us ? ” asked Carrie, 
when the Monogram came so near as almost to 
interfere with the movement of the oars. 

“I addwessed the ladies in the Chickee.” 

“ The Chickee ! ” laughed the leader ; and her 
companions screamed with her. 

“ I beg your pawdon ; but what is the name 
of your beautiful boat ? ” demanded the swell. 

“ The Chickee,” answered Carrie. “ And we 
are all Chickees.” 

The fair rowers laughed so that they almost * 
lost their stroke. 

“You must be vewy fatigued. Allow me to 
offaw the saw vices of my steamaw to tow the 
Chickee.” 

“ No, I thank you,” replied Carrie, smartly. 

“ AII1.W me to invite you on board of the 
Monogwam ; and she is entiawly at your saw- 
vice.” 

“No, thank you; but you will oblige me by 
keeping youv steamer a little farther from the 
ends of our cars,” added Carrie. 

Mr. McG usher did not comply with this 
request, but attempted to continue the parley. 

“ Oars ! ” said Carrie, suddenly. “ Pull, port ; 
back, &tArbi>ard.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


245 


The headway of the Psyche was checked, and 
she swung quarter around. 

“ Oars ! ” Give way together ! ” she continued, 
when the boat’s head was pointed directly from 
the Monogram, and she darted away, to the 
astonishment and chagrin of the “ charter 
party ” of the steamer. 

All the other boats did the same thing. The 
Ocean-Born, which had before rung her speed- 
bell, came up abreast of the Monogram, and 
placed herself between the intruder and the 
fleet. 

“ On board the Monogram ! ” shouted Captain 
Patterdale from the deck of the Ocean-Born, as 
she slowed down abreast of that steamer. 

“ On board of the Ocean-Born,” replied the 
captain of the Monogram, from the pilot house ; 
and the two steamers were hardly six feet 
apart. 

“Captain Post, I will thank you to keep at 
a proper distance from the boats of the young 
ladies,” said Captain Patterdale, politely, but in 
a tone not to be mistaken. 

“ I only obey orders,” replied Captain Post, 
who knew that it was not prudent to offend a 


246 


OCEAN-BORN. 


man of so much influence in the City as Cap- 
tain Patterdale. 

“ Whose orders ? ” 

“ The orders of the gentleman who hired the 
boat.” 

“ Who is he ? ” 

“ I have the honaw to be the gentleman,” 
interposed Mr. McGusher. 

“You are no gentleman! You don’t know 
what the word means 1 You have no more right 
to speak to those young ladies, having no ac- 
quaintance with them, than you would if you 
met them in the street,” said Captain Patterdale, 
sharply. “ Sheer off. Captain Post, and don’t 
come within hailing distance of those boats. Go 
ahead, if you please, Mr. Owen.” 

The Ocean-Born started her screw and went 
ahead. The club boat had swung around again, 
and was laying her course for the mouth of the 
river. Mr. McGusher was blustering at the cap- 
tain of “his steamer,” but the Ocean-Born kept 
between her and the Dorcas Club till they reached 
Fort Point, where all hands were to remain till 
the next morning, 


OCEAN-BORN. 


247 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CLUBS AT FORT POINT. 

T he Yacht Club fleet was already at anchor 
off Fort Point when the Dorcas Club and 
the Ocean-Born arrived. The yachtmen, who 
were on shore waiting for the young ladies, as- 
sisted them to land, and then, taking their boats 
out of the water, conveyed them to a barn ap- 
propriated to their use. The Ocean -Born came 
to anchor in deep water, and all hands landed 
except Martin Roach, who was to attend to the 
engine, and join the party at a later hour. The 
Monogram, though she had kept at a respectful 
distance after the admonition of Captain Patter- 
dale, now came in, and running up to the wharf, 
landed Mr. McGusher, who seemed to be deter 
mined to take part in the festivities of the trip, 
in spite of all the snubbing that could be ad- 
ministered to him. 


248 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


As soon as the entire party had gathered on 
the wharf, and in the pretty grove which bor- 
dered the river, — for the boats entered the river 
when they rounded Fort Point, — the young la- 
dies and the young gentlemen began to wonder 
what Avas to be done. No one seemed to know 
what they were to do, or Avhy they had landed 
at this delightful spot. It Avas certainly very 
pleasant ; but then it Avas half past one, a time 
someAvhat later, in this provincial locality, than 
most of them had been in the habit of attend- 
ing to the ceremony of dinner, Avhich, in the 
present instance, after a trip of ten miles on the 
salt water, Avas likely to be something more than 
a mere form. 

“ Are Ave to have no dinner ? ” asked Kate 
Bilder, at Avhose side Ben Lunder had placed 
himself as soon as he stepped upon the wharf. 

“ Really, Miss Bilder, I don’t knoAV what the 
arrangements are,” replied Ben, shrugging his 
shoulders. 

“I am hungry as a wolf!” protested Kate. 

“ Hungry as a lamb ! I am as hungry as a 
wolf. Let us have the similies properly placed.” 

“ Do you mean by that you are any hungrier 
than I am ? ” 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


249 


“ I can’t say as to that ; but I haven’t tasted 
a mouthful of food since 1 ate my breakfast ; 
and it is now half past one in the afternoon,” 
added Ben. 

“ Your sufferings can be no greater than 
mine. I have eaten nothing since breakfast. I 
supposed we should dine in the cabins of the 
yachts.” 

“ Behold, there is a great mystery somewhere ! 
The high and mighty commander of the Ocean- 
Born intended to invite all the ladies of the 
Dorcas Club to dine in the cabin of the steamer. 
He had gathered great stores of ambrosia, and 
such ethereal ‘ feed,’ for the occasion, and was 
about to issue his sovereign mandate to the cook, 
when the puissant managing agent of the expe- 
dition interposed with a veto. It cannot be that 
Captain Patterdale, who has a human stomach 
in his corporation, has doomed us to an after- 
noon of famine.” 

“If he has, I shall rebel, and buy some 
cookies at a shop, if I can find one,” pouted 
Kate. 

“But shops are not hopeful in such a place 
as this; and we can do better: we will invade 


250 


OCEAN-BORN. 


the pantry of the Ocean-Born, where the ethe- 
real provender is stowed.” 

“What’s that?” asked Kate, as a band of 
music, concealed in the grove, suddenly struck 
up an enlivening air. 

“ ‘ There’s music in the air,’ ” replied Ben. 

“ All the yachtmen, ahoy ! ” shouted Sam 
Rodman, the captain of the fleet. 

■“ Ay, ay ! ” responded the several crews, as 
they gathered in an open space near the wharf. 

“ By order of the commodore, you will form 
a procession by crews,” added Rodman. 

“ A procession ! ” exclaimed Ben. “ That’s a 
prodigious formality.” 

“ The Dorcas Club will form by clubs,” said 
Minnie Darling, the president. 

“ Dear me ! we must wear a straight jacket, 
too,” laughed Kate. 

Each yacht had a crew of four, besides the 
captains; and each had been strictly limited to 
this number, so that the members of the Dor- 
cas Club could be accommodated, if occasion 
should require. The crews formed, with the 
captains in front of them. Rodman placed the 
commodore, the vice commodore, the secretary, 


OCEAN-BORN. 


251 


and the treasurer at the head of the procession 
Three yacht crews came next, who were followed 
by the five divisions of the Dorcas Club, and the 
rear was brought up by the other three yacht 
clubs. 

“ The officers and crew of the Ocean-Born 
seem to be left out in the cold,” said Ben Lun- 
der, when the formidable preparations for the 
march were so far completed. 

“ Not at all,” replied Sam Rodman. “ The 
Ocean-Borns will form a guard of honor for the 
Dorcas Club. Oidy six of you seem to be pre- 
sent, and three of you will walk on each side 
of the young ladies.” 

“ Thanks, magnanimous captain of the fleet, 
for putting us in the sugar bowl,” added Ben. 

The B. B. Band, which had been mysteriously 
sent forward in the morning boat, was placed 
at the head of the procession. Commodore Mon- 
tague gave the order to march, and the line 
moved up the gentle slope and through the 
grove, towards the hotel, which stands on a 
considerable bluff, with the waters of the bay 
on one side, and those of the river on the 
other. 


252 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Mr. McGusher witnessed . all the proceedings 
with about the same feeling that a hungry 
cur looks through the cruel pickets of a fence 
which separates him from the sleek house-dog 
feeding upon the well-covered beef bones from a 
lavish table. Mr. McGusher was conscious . of 
his merits, if no one else was. He knew he 
could shine in such a company as that which 
marched like a pageant before him. He could 
bring to it the graces and brilliancy of the me- 
tropolis of the nation. He could fascinate those 
young ladies with his speech. He could charm 
those young ladies with his conversation, so that 
the fairest daughter of the richest and proudest 
nabob of that Down East City would gladly own 
his sway. But he had not been invited to join 
the excursion. He was acquainted only with 
Kate Bilder ; and that miserable Ben Lunder 
was always near her ; even his position in the 
“ guard of honor ” was abreast of her. She 
could introduce him to all the young ladies, 
and open the - gates of paradise to him — and 
happily to them. 

He followed the procession to the hotel, keep- 
ing step to the music ; but, alas ! his heart was 


OCEAN-BORN. 


253 


not allowed to beat in unison with those of the 
members of the Dorcas Club. With eight hun- 
dred dollars in his pocket, — he had been com- 
pelled to pay for two days in advance for the 
Monogram, — he was a beggar for the smiles of 
that bevy of beautiful beings. 

The procession marched’ into the great hall of 
the hotel, the band playing the grand finale of 
a grand march, and then into the parlors as- 
signed for the use of the party. At the door 
stood Captain Patterdale and Dr. Darling, like 
two great ogres at the entrance of an enchant- 
ed palace. But the long-lost was so infatuated 
by this time, that he was superior to any fear 
of ogres, giants, or dragons; and with eas}^ 
assurance he stepped up to this gate of para- 
dise. He was about to enter, when the ogres 
placed themselves in his way. 

“ This parlor is private,” said Captain Patter- 
dale. 

“ I beg yaw pawdon ; but I wish to speak to 
Miss Bildaw,” replied Mr. McGusher. 

“ If you wish to see any of this party, send 
your card to her by one of the waiters; that’s 
the proper way in genteel society,” answered 
the remorseless ogre. 


254 OCEAN-BORN. 

Of course Mr. McGusher was perfectly famil- 
iar with the ways of genteel society. He went 
to the office, wrote his name on a card, and sent 
it to Kate by a servant. Then he wrote his 
name on the register of the hotel. 

“I desiaw the best wooms in the house,” 
said he, magnificently. 

“We are quite full to-day, on account of the 
party which has just arrived,” replied the gen- 
tlemanly clerk, who did not seem to be very 
much impressed by the young man’s magnifi- 
cence. “We have nothing left, short of the 
upper floor, except a suite of rooms on the sec- 
ond floor.” 

“Vewy well, saw,” added the guest, with a 
nod and a graceful wave of his right hand. 
“ That will ansaw my pawpose.” 

“ It is a large parlor with a bedroom attached, 
suitable for two persons, and we have to charge 
fourteen dollars a day for the suite, with board,” 
continued the clerk, avIio doubtless believed that 
these terms would settle the question. 

“ I didn’t ask the pwice. I don’t object to 
that. It seems quite weasonable,” added Mr. 
McGusher, with an expression of sovereign con- 
tempt on his classic features. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


255 


“ The lady says she is engaged just now, and 
cannot see you,” said the waiter, who had car- 
ried the card to Miss Bilder. “ She says she 
will endeavor to see you this afternoon.” 

“ Vewy well,” replied the long-lost, biting his 
classic lip. 

“Have you any baggage, Mr. McGusher?” 
asked the clerk. 

“Baggage! Do you mean to insult me?” 
demanded the swell, who doubtless knew the 
rule that “ guests without baggage are required 
to pay in advance.” 

“ Certainly not, sir,” replied the clerk, ob- 
sequiously ; for by this time he deemed it pos- 
sible that the airy guest might be the simple 
scion of some New York nabob. 

“ Take out one day in advance,” said Mr. 
McGusher, selecting a hundred-dollar bill from 
the notes in his wallet, and tossing it upon the 
counter with the air of a wounded lord. 

“ I beg your pardon ; you quite misunderstood 
me,” added the clerk. “I only Wished to send 
your baggage to your rooms.” 

“ My baggage is on bawd of my steamaw — 
the Monogwam, at the whawf. Oblige me by 


256 


OCEAN-BORN. 


sending a pawtaw faw it,” said Mr. McGusher, 
restoring the hundred-dollar bill to his wallet, 
satisfied with showing that he had plenty of 
money. 

“ The porter shall bring it up at once.” 

“ And now I want some dinnaw,” continued 
the long-lost. 

“We dine at one; but we will get some din- 
ner for you.” 

“ Nevaw mind, I will dine with the pawty 
that just came.” 

“ That is a private party,” answered the 
clerk, firmly. 

“At, that moment Mr. McGusher happened 
to turn his head, and saw Captain Patterdale 
talking with his old friend Monroe, who had 
“ shadowed ” him in Bangor. 

“ Aw, my deaw Monwoe, I’m delighted to 
see you ! ” exclaimed the long-lost, rushing in 
between the two gentlemen, and breaking up 
their conversation. 

In spite of the shade .we cast on Mr. Mc- 
Gusher’s good breeding in doing so, we cannot 
help saying that there is no more flagrant vio- 
lation of the rules of politeness, in social or 


OCEAN-BORN. 


257 ■ 

business intercourse, than to break in upon the 
conversation of two or more persons, be they 
ladies or gentlemen, or both. Better wait an 
hour, any time, than do it, except in a case of 
life and death ; and then it should be com- 
menced with an apology. 

Mr. Monroe, evidently, was not so much 
delighted. His function as a “ shadow ” had 
ceased ; and the New York swell was not just 
the person he would choose as an associate at a 
sea-side resort ; but he took the offered hand of 
the long-lost, and greeted him rather coldly. 

“ Dine with us Munroe — won’t you ? ” said 
Patterdale, as he turned to leave. 

“I dined an hour ago, and am hardly in con- 
dition to do it again,” laughed Monroe. 

“ Ask him if you may invite a fwiend,” said 
Mr. McGusher, in a low tone. 

“ Come in and see us, whether you dine or 
not,” added the captain, as he returned from 
the office. 

“ Thank you ; perhaps I may,” replied Mon- 
roe. 

“ Why don't 3"ou ask him if you may bwing in 
a fwiend, my deaw Mon woe ? ” added Mr. Me- 


258 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Gusher, rather impatiently ; for though the Bel- 
fasters, through prejudice, failed to recognize his 
merits, certainly Monroe could not be so blind. 

“ I don’t think I care to invite a friend. 
Those are all young people, and I am afraid I 
should not feel quite at home among them,” 
repUed Monroe. “ Besides, I have something 
else to think of. I came over here from Bucks- 
port this morning, intending to remain a couple 
of days ; but there is no room short of the attic 
for me.” 

“ My deaw fellaw, come to my wooms. I 
have the best suite in the house, and you shall 
share them with me,” interposed the long-lost, 
with enthusiasm. But I wish to dine with that 
pawty. I have had no dinnaw yet. I desiaw 
to make the acquaintance of those young ladies.” 

“Very well. Go to your room, McGusher. I 
will speak to Captain Patterdale ; and if I find 
I can get you an invitation, I will call for you 
in five minutes at your room.” 

“If you say yaw fwiend, you can’t leave him, 
and all that sawt of thing, it will be all wight.” 

“I will see what can be done.” 

Mr. McGusher went to his rooms, and Monroe 


OCEAN-BORN. 


259 


to the parlor, where Captain Patterdale had joined 
his party. He alluded to his “ friend from New 
York,” but he did so with a sort of smile, which 
seemed to nullify all he said, and reduce his 
suggestion to a mere form. Captain Patterdale 
objected to inviting the gentleman from New York ; 
and, strange as it may seem, Monroe did not 
press the matter. In fact, he behaved like a 
very cold and indifferent friend. And when the 
managing agent of the excursion party actually 
declined to invite the would-be guest to the 
dinner, Monroe selfishly sat down to the table 
v/ith the merry party himself, without taking 
the trouble to inform his friend from New York 
of the result of his mission. 

The feast was very creditable to the hotel, 
and fortunately the quantity, as well as the 
quality, was equal to the emergency, for, perhaps, 
a hungrier company never surrounded a table 
than the members of the two clubs and the crew 
of the Ocean-Born. The B. B. Band played, on 
the veranda, during the dinner, and, though the 
part}^ was supposed to be private, the guests of 
the hotel, and everybody else who chose to do 
so, could look in at the open windows upon the 


260 


OCEAN-BORN. 


festive scene. Among the spectators who availed 
themselves of this privilege was Mr. McGusher ; 
but “ he was not happy.” He had waited in 
his rooms for Munroe till his patience was 
exhausted ; and then, with the belief that his 
friend was treacherous and shabby, he had joined 
the throng of lookers on. His wounded sensi- 
bilities were not healed when he saw Monroe 
gaily chatting with the young ladies of the 
Dorcas Club. 

When the animal wants of the company had 
been fully satisfied. Commodore Montague rapped 
upon the table, and having secured the atten- 
tion of the diners, introduced Captain Patterdale 
as the host of the occasion. The captain rose 
and stated that he had taken the liberty to pro- 
vide the present entertainment, and others which 
were to follow, iii honor of the officers and 
crew of the Ocean-Born. He could never ex- 
press, either by words or deeds, the obligations 
he was under to the people of the gallant 
steamer. He should not attempt to do so ; and 
he was content forever to owe a debt of grati- 
tude to such noble and generous friends. But 
he would not dampen the festivities of the young 


OCEAN-BORN. 


261 


people by thrusting the soberness and dignity of 
age upon them in his own person, and should 
therefore request Commodore Montague to pre- 
side at the table instead of himself. 

• After the applause had subsided, Commodore 
Montague made a little speech. He was sure 
that no one was younger in heart and feeling 
than the esteemed gentleman to whom they were 
indebted for the pleasures of the present occa- 
sion. He fully sympathized with their liberal 
host in his high appreciation of the conduct of 
the officers and crew of the Ocean-Born, who 
had behaved like noble and generous sailors, as 
they were. Every member of both clubs should 
feel that he was personally indebted to them for 
the service rendered to their companions in dis- 
tress ; and he trusted that all would remember 
the conduct of the noble deliverers of the ship- 
wrecked party in the Sea Foam. The tables 
trembled and the glasses rattled under the ap- 
plause which followed ; and Captain Neil Bran- 
don rose to reply; but it was some time before 
the demonstration of favor which greeted him 
would permit his voice to be heard. Neil re- 
plied in a very brief and proper speech, in which 


262 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


he disparaged his own humble efforts to serve 
the party in distress, and warmly expressed his 
gratitude for the princely entertainment at which 
the officers and crew of the Ocean-Born were 
the honored guests. 

Dr. Darling was called upon, and after he liad 
expressed his personal obligations to the guests 
of the occasion, he invited all the company to 
participate in certain festivities at the Bangor 
House, on their arrival at their destination. 

“ This is to be a jolly time — isn’t it. Miss 
Bilder ? ” said Ben Lunder, who had a seat by 
the side of Kate. 

I should think it was. I had no idea we 
were to do things so grandly ; but then, Mr. 
Lunder, we might all have been at the bottom 
of the sea at this time, if you in the steamer 
had not taken pity upon us. There, Ned Pat- 
terdale is going to make a speech.” 

Ned spoke very well, though, like most young 
men when they make off-hand speeches, conned 
for two or three hours in advance, he was a 
little stilted, exaggerated, and flowery in his re- 
marks. 

Mr. Commodore, and ladies and gentlemen,” 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


2G3 


lie said, in conclusion, “ I beg the privilege of 
proposing a toast : The old salt : Pickled in 
the briny ocean, he will keep till the end of 
time as the inpersonation of what is noble, he- 
roic, daring, and unselfish.” 

“ Mr. Commodore, it is quite impossible,” 
shouted Ben Lunder, springing to Ins feet, and 
upsetting his chair, and tipping over several 
glasses in front of him, in his eagerness. 

“ I beg the gentleman’s pardon,” interposed 
Commodore Montague ; “ but I must remind him 
that certain formalities are necessary on these 
occasions, and that upon me devolves the very 
pleasant duty of introducing Mr. Bounding Bil- 
low Ben Lunder, as the representative of the 
crew of the steamer Ocean-Born, of Philadel- 
phia.” 

“ Mr. Commodore, I beg your pardon for my 
unseemly impetuosity ; but when the old salt 
is alluded to in ,‘peech, toast, or song, I am 
there,” continued Ben ; “ and I respectfully sub- 
mit that I am known so well to this company 
in connection with this briny appellation, as to 
need no formal introduction.” 

“No, no ! ” laughed the yachtman. 


264 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Thank you, gentlemen ; you know how it 
is yourselves. I am an old salt, called upon to 
speak for that saline institution without any — 
without any — any — (Ben took from his breast 
pocket a paper, which he unfolded, glancing ner- 
vously at the writing upon it) preparation ; I 
find my stomach — my stomach — no — (and Ben 
took the paper from his pocket and glanced at 
it) my heart — I find my heart too full for ut- 
terance. I am not the first old salt to whom 
the attention of the people has been directed. 
There was another old salt, sir, first in war, first 
in — first in — iii — (consulting the paper) peace 

— first in peace, and first in the arts of seaman- 
ship and navigation. Proudly I point to that 
first old salt in the history of — the history of 

— of (the paper) the United States. You know 
him well, Mr. Commodore. His name was George 

— George — his name was George — George (the 
paper) Washington — George Washington. He 

. stood at the helm of the ship of — the ship of 

— of — (the paper) state ; the ship of state, Mr. 
Commodore. In other words, sir, he took his 
trick at the wheel. He navigated that ship as 
no other man could navigate her, sir. Pic knew 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


265 


when to take a reef in the skysail-boom ! He 
knew when to top up the flukes of the main- 
royal mudhook ! He knew just how much the 
foreto’-bobbin-stay would bear, and he didn’t 
burst it! He sailed that ship of state with the 
jib-stay fast to the bowline-hitch, with the jib- 
tack swelling in the breeze, and the sky-scrapers 
hauled taut on the weather staysail sheets! He 
kept her head south-east by no’th, and the grand 
old craft bowled along like a white cloud through 
the azure of the canopy below — Below? (the 
paper) above him ; the canopy above him, Mr. 
Commodore ; or like the ship of the desert 
over the burning sands of the Straits of Ma- 
gellan ! ” 

At this point of the speech there was an in- 
terruption. Mr. McGusher, who, seated on a 
window-stool, had been gazing with longing 
eyes upon the party at the table, swung his legs 
into the room, and dropped upon the floor. Not 
heeding the piles of dishes there, he came down 
upon them with a grand smash, which for the 
moment checked Ben’s eloquence. 


266 


OCEAN-BORN. 


CHAPTER XIV, 


THE COMPLIMENTARY DINNER. 

HE smash of crockery which attended Mr. 



1 McGusher’s entrance through the window 
into the dining-room attracted the attention of 
all present, and brought Ben’s speech to an 
abrupt stop. Captain Patterdale, who had kept 
his eye on the long-lost, had noticed his gradual 
approaches up to the moment of the catastrophe. 
Leaving his place at the table, he confronted the 
intruder. 

“What are you doing, sir?” demanded the 
captain, savagely. 

“ I beg your pawdon. Captain Patterdale, but 
I wish to speak to my friend, Mr. Monroe,” 
replied Mr. McGusher, moving towards the head 
of the table near which his friend was seated. 

Very much to the chagrin of Mr. McGusher, 
Monroe rose from his seat and passed out into 
the great hall of the hotel. 


OCEAN-B RN. 


267 


“ He has left the room,” replied Captain Pat- 
terdale. “ You will find him in the hall.” 

“ Miss Bildaw was kind enough to say she 
would see me this aftawnoon, and I will speak 
to haw before I go.” 

“No, you will not,” answered the managing 
agent, sharply. “You will leave this room.” 

“ Do you mean to insult me, saw ? Do you 
know who I am ? ” demanded Mr. McGusher, 
straightening up his form. 

“No matter who you are — leave this room, 
or I will call upon the servants to put you out.” 

“ I am the only son of Captain Bildaw ; and 
Miss Bildaw is my sis taw ! ” 

This might have been a very startling an- 
nouncement to Captain Patterdale, if the “ long- 
lost father” of the “long-lost son” had not 
already spoken to the managing agent about 
him, and requested him to save Kate from any 
annoyance on his part. Indeed, Captain Patter- 
dale was a confidential friend of Captain Bildcr, 
and knew all about the “long-lost” business. 
Both of them regarded the gentleman from New 
York as an impostor and a humbug. But the 
attention of the landlord had been called to tlie 


268 


OCEAN-BORN. 


disturbance, and he appeared upon the ground. 
He insisted that Mr. McGusher should go out 
the window again, as he came in, and with a 
little gentle force helped him along. The long- 
lost boiling over with wrath and indignation, 
hastened around to the hall to confront Moiiroo ; 
but that gentleman quietly returned to his place 
at the table as soon as his late friend was hustled 
out. 

‘‘ Go on ! Go on ! ” called the yachtmen. 
“Ben Lunder!” “Old Salt!” 

“Really, ladies and gentleman,” said Ben, tak- 
ing the floor again, “the interruption of an un- 
l^repared — unprepared — (the paper) speech is 
fatal to the higher flights of oratory. I have 
forgotten where I was, being called upon thus 
unexpectedly, with nothing particular to say ; ” 
and Ben nervously turned the leaves, and looked 
up and down the pages of the manuscript, which 
seemed to be an old letter. “ Where was I ? ” 

“ On the burning sands of the Straits of 
Magellan,” laughed one of the yachtmen. 

“ Ah, yes J Thank you. I remember. I was 
speaking of the ship of state, that gallant old 
craft, lifting her foreto’ -gallant cutwater to the 


OCEAN-BORN. 


269 


breeze, Avith her main royal hatchway braced 
sharp up, and the bilge water flying like pop 
corn in a parcher. I was speaking of the skip- 
per of that craft ; of that old salt George — 
George — George — T mentioned the name — ' 
George — (the paper) — Washington ; George 
Washington. He saved the ship ! With his little 
hatchet he cut away the booms, bobstays, bow- 
sprits, beckets, bo’s’ns, and buntlines, and brought 
the old craft safe into Portland — Portland? — 
into — into — (the paper) port; into port. But, 
Mr. Commodore, I was about to allude to other 
distinguished old salts, who have honored the 
profession to which I belong.” 

“Go on!” “Go on!” 

“ There was one down in Tennessee, who 
navigated that same old ship of state. He Avas 
a tough specimen of the old salt. He kept his 
backstay braced sharp up into the eye of the 
wind. He was tough as the foreto’-mainmast 
of a man-of-war ! Sometimes tliey called him 
Old — Old Hickups — Hickups ? (the paper) Old 
Hickory! They called him so, Mr. Commodore, 
because he was fond of pea-nuts ! His name was 
AndreAV — Andrew — Andrew — ” 


270 


OCEAN-BORN. 


‘‘ Johnson,” suggested Ned Patterdale. 

“ Andrew Johnson ! His name was Andrew 
Johnson, Mr. Commodore ! ” continued the ora- 
tor. “ Johnson — Johnson? It seems to me thrt 
was not the name. (The paper.) Jackson, Mr. 
Commodore ! His name was Andrew Jackson ! 
He was the captain of his ship, sir. When he 
was sick he knew enough to heave to, sir. When 
South Carolina wanted to nullify, he knew enough 
to lie to, sir. In this respect, sir, he was dif- 
ferent from George — George (the paper) Wash- 
ington ; George Washington, sir. History sol- 
emnly records that G. ,W. couldn’t tell a — a — 
tell a — a — a (the paper) a lie ; tell a lie, sir. 
G. W. could not tell a lie ; but he could lie 
under an imputation, and he did; and Andrew 
Jackson could lie to, and pour his booming guns 
int^ the nullifiers, like a brave old salt as he 
was. But, Mr. Commodore, time would fail me, 
and your patience give out, before I could al- 
lude to all the old salts to whose honored pro- 
fession I belong ; and I can only mention Gen- 
eral Phil — Phil — General Phil — Phil — (tlic 
paper) Sheridan ; Phil Sheridan, who rode at 
anchor from Winchester down to the battle-field, 


OCEAN-BORN. 


271 


and made a good run of it. Now, Mr. Commo- 
dore, permit me to return my — niy — my (tlie pa- 
per) thanks ; my thanks for the very handsome 
manner you have treated the crew of the Ocean- 
Born ; and I assure you I shall ever cherish a 
very grateful remembrance of this occasion, and 
especially of the Dorcas — Dorcas — the Dorcas 
— Dorcas — (the paper) Club ; the Dorcas Club.” 

Ben was heartily applauded for his effort, and 
rose to bow his thanks, and express his regrets 
that some slight slips of his memory had caused 
him to stumble a little in the delivery of his 
unpremeditated speech. Doubtless the plan of 
his speech was new at Fort Point, but Ben did 
not claim to be entirely original in its concep- 
tion, having adopted it from a similar effort put 
forth by a member of a club on a festive occa- 
sion. Other speeches were made, and most of 
the young gentlemen struggled to be funny with- 
out being entirely successful. At four o’clock 
tlie party left the dining-room, and spent the 
rest of the afternoon in social intercourse, or in 
such sports as were available. 

“ Who is the young man that tumbled in at 
the window and broke the crockery ware. Cap- 


272 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


tain Patterdale ? ” asked Neil Brandon, as they 
met in the hall. 

“ He is a young exquisite from New York,” 
laughed the captain. “ He has more cheek than 
brains, and as my friend Ben would say, very 
little ballast in his craft.” 

“ Didn’t I hear him say that he was the son 
of Captain Bilder?” 

“But the claim is absolutely absurd. Captain 
Bilder could not be the father of such a mon- 
key as he is.” 

“ He said that Kate was his sister.” 

“ If Captain Bilder is not his father, it can’t 
very well be that Kate is his sister, for neither 
the captain nor his wife was ever married more 
than once.” 

“ But how can the fellow put forward such an 
absurd claim?” inquired Neil, curiously. “If 
Captain Bilder ever had a son, he ought to know 
about it.” 

“ Unfortunately he does know about it. He 
had a son who is supposed to have been drowned 
when a child.” 

“ Was he drow led ? ” 

“ I am sure I don’t know. Captain Bilder 


OCEAN-BORN. 


273 


believes he was ; at least with about one chance 
ill a thousand that he was not. I heard the 
story many years ago, but I don’t remember all 
the particulars. I believe the child fell over- 
board, or something of that sort, on the Mis- 
sissippi River. At any rate, this Mr. McG ush- 
er claims to be that child.” 

“ Is Captain Bilder sure that he is not what 
he claims to be ? ” asked Neil, very much inter- 
ested in the meagre narrative. 

“ He has already detected the rascal in some 
trickery, and he is quite sure the knave is not 
his son. The scamp annoys Kate very much, 
and she is anxious to avoid him.” 

“She has succeeded very well this afternoon,” 
added Neil, as Captain Patterdale’s attention 
was called in another direction. 

Neil sat down in a great arm-chair to consider 
the situation. His mother had insisted that he 
should leave Belfast, and avoid the Bilders ; 
but she had given no explanation of her re- 
quest. Why was she so anxious that he should 
avoid them ? Captain Bilder had had a son 
who was supposed to be drowned. The name 
of Neil Brandon had startled the father of the 


274 OCEAN-BOKN. 

lost child. The name of the steamer — Ocean- 
Born — had surprised him. There was some- 
thing very strange about all this, and Neil 
could not fathom it. He felt it to be his duty 
to avoid Kate Bilder, after what his mother had 
written, as much as he could without rudeness. 
He wondered if she knew anything about the 
lost child, the little brother. He was tempted 
to ask her ; but then he had too much rever- 
ence for his mother to disregard her commands 
even in the spirit, if he could in the letter. 

1 beg your pawdon. Captain Bwandon,” Said 
Mr. McGusher, rushing up to the commander 
of the Ocean-Born ; “I have been insulted sev- 
ewal times by a pawson that belongs to your 
steamaw.” 

“Indeed? Who was he?” asked Neil, 

“ The fellow they call Ben.” 

“ What has he done ? ” 

“ He is vewy wude.” 

“ Is he ? I am sorry for that.” 

“He is wolling ten pins in the bowling alley 
with Miss Bildaw. I pwoposed to join them 
for a game, and though Miss Bildaw desiwed 
my company, he wefused to let me play.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


275 


“ That is no affair of mine, Mr. McGusher. 
If Miss Bilder desired you to join the party, I 
am sure Mr. Lunder would not object.” 

But he does object ! He wequested me to 
leave the alley.” 

“ You are acquainted with Miss Bilder, then!” 

“ To be suaw I am. I was the guest of haw 
fathaw ill Belfast.” 

“I think I heard you say she was your sister. 
Is that so ? ” 

“ That is so,” replied Mr. McGusher, as he 
seated himself by the side of the captain of 
the Ocean-Born. “ It is twue, though I don’t 
care to say much about it just yet.” 

The long-lost was satisfied that he had been 
imprudent ; and perhaps he understood the 
reason why he had been so. When he found 
it was impossible for him to dine with the clubs, 
he had concluded to take the meal alone, and 
in the absence of other company, he had called 
for a lialf bottle of champagne. He drank the 
whole of it, and as his head was not a very pow' 
erful piece of machinery, the wine had turned 
what little brains he had. Doubtless it made 
his legs a little uncertain, as well as his head, 


27G 


OCEAN-BORN. 


which explained the destruction of the crockery 
ware. Ilis head had been under the weather, 
or he would hardly have claimed so near a re- 
lationship to Captain Bilder and his daughter. 
Neil Brandon saw that he was not entirely 
regular. Mr. McGusher wanted to be confiden- 
tial in regard to his relations with Captain Bil- 
der, and he placed his mouth so near Neil’s 
face that the captain could not help smelling 
the fumes of the wine in his breath. Tipsy 
or not, Neil wanted to know more about Cap- 
tain Bilder’s son. 

“Are you really his son?” asked the captain. 

“ No dowbt of it. I bwought j^woof positive 
to Captain Bildaw.” 

“But his son was drowned in the Mississippi 
when a child,” added Neil, using the fragment 
of information he had . obtained from Captain 
Patterdale. 

“ Not dwound, faw heaw I am ! ” said Mr. 
McGusher, warmly. 

“But how do you know you are his son ? ” 

“ I was saved ; in a wawd, I was stolen by 
a man of the name of Neil Bwandon.” 

“Neil Brandon I ” exclaimed the captain of 
the Ocean-Born. 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


277 


By gwacious ! I didn’t think of it befowe, 
but yaw name is Bwandon ! ” replied the long- 
lost. 

“ Not only Brandon, but Neil Brandon. You 
say you were saved by him.” 

“ I was stolen fwom my pawents by this 
Bwandon. I don’t know why. He took me 
to England, and left me with a man who 
bwought me up as his son till he sent me to an 
Awphan Asylum. That’s all I know about it, 
but I was always suaw that I belonged to a 
good family.” 

“But what became of Neil Brandon?” asked 
the captain. 

“ I don’t know,” replied Mr. McGusher, shak- 
ing his head. 

“You were stolen by a man of the name of 
Neil Brandon,” repeated Neil. 

“ That is what I said ; and if you don’t be- 
lieve it you can wead this lettaw ; ” and the 
long-lost produced the epistle he had read to 
Mr. Bilder and Kate. 

Neil read it. Perhaps he would have thought 
nothing of it if his mother had not directed 
him to avoid the Bilders. He inquired about 


278 


OCEAN-BORN. 


the pieces of card, and they were explained to 
him. Neil knew that his own name was the 
same as his father’s ; he kncAV that his mother 
was born in New Orleans. He was bewildered 
and confounded. Was his father the Neil Bran- 
don who had stolen the child ? If so, what had 
he done with it? And again, why had his 
mother forbidden him to see the Bilders any 
more ? Why was she so worried because he was 
in Belfast — so worried that she could not 
sleep? He was tempted to call Martin Roach, 
and hasten back to Belfast, wliere he could 
confront Captain Bilder, and learn more from 
him. But he respected the wishes of his 
mother, and he promptly abandoned the idea. 

“ I beg yaw pawdon. Captain Bwandon,” said 
Mr. McGusher, as he took the letter from his 
companion’s hand ; “ you see there can be no 
mistake about this business.” 

“ I don’t know : I don’t understand it well 
enough to give an opinion,” replied Neil. 

“ Might I beg the favaw of an intwoduction 
to some of the young ladies in yaw pawty ? ” 
said the long lost, coming to the pomt he had 
had in view from the first. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


279 


“ You must excuse me, Mr. McGusher, but 
the young ladies are not under my protection, 
and I don’t feel at liberty to introduce any one 
to them without their permission.” 

Neil was firm as a rock, because he saw that 
his companion was tipsy in the first place, and 
because he believed he was an impostor, in the 
second. Fortunately Mr. Monroe happened to 
pass through the hall, at this point of the con- 
versation, and Mr. McGusher, smarting under 
the indignity received at his hands, “ went for 
him,” leaving Neil to brood over the statement 
in the letter that his father had stolen Captain 
Bilder’s son — he believed it was his father, for 
he could hardly think there was another Neil 
Brandon in the world. 

“ Mon woe,” shouted Mr. McGusher, as he 
saw his late friend pass, and rushed upon him, 
as if with the intention of annihilating him, 
“ don’t you think you tweated me uncommon 
shabby ? ” 

“ Shabby ? How so ? ” asked Monroe, as coolly 
as though the long-lost was nothing more than 
a common mortal. 

“ I didn’t expect it of you,” added the New 
Yorker, reproachfully. 


230 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“What do you mean?” 

“Didn’t you make me a pwomise, and didn’t 
you bweak that pwomise?” 

“ I was not aware of it.” 

“ Didn’t you pwomise to get me an invitation 
to dine with that pawty?” 

“No, sir; I did not! I told you if I got an 
invitation for you, I would call for you in your 
room in five minutes. That’s what I said,” 
laughed Monroe. “ I didn’t get any invitation 
for you ; so of course it was of no use for me 
to call for you.” 

“ Why didn’t you get the invitation ? It was 
an easy thing faw you to do. If you had only 
said yaw fwiend, one to whom you was undaw 
pawticulaw obligations, it would have been all 
wight.” 

“ I was not willing to say all that, you see ; 
and that was what was the matter.” 

“Not willing to say it ! ” gasped Mr. Mc- 
Gusher. “ I saw you chatting and laughing 
with the young ladies at the table without a 
thought of me, out in the cold.” 

“ These young ladies are my friends and 
neighbors; and of course I felt quite at home 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


281 


among them. They are the daughters of some 
of the wealthiest and most respectable men in 
Belfast.’’ 

“ I know it, and that was the weason why 
I wanted to be intwoduced to them,” growled 
the long-lost. “ When I got into the woom, 
and wanted to speak to you, you walked out. 
You might have saved me the mawtification of 
being awdawed out the woom.” 

“You might have saved yourself by not going 
into the room ; and especially by not going 
in through the window.” 

“ It was shabby, Mr. Monwoe, to desawt yaw 
fwiend. When I went wound to the office, 
you went wound to the dining-woom, seated 
yawself by the ladies, and seemed to fawget all 
about yaw fwiend.” 

“ I have a bad memory at times.” 

“ I did not think it of you, Monwoe, when you 
could have got me in just as well as not, and 
intwoduced me to all the young ladies.” 

“My dear fellow, don’t you see I had no 
right to do any such thing ? I was only a guest 
myself.” 

“ The young ladies waw yaw fwiends and neigh- 
baws, Mon woe ; and — ” 


282 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


But that is just the reason why I couldn’t 
do it,” protested the Belfaster. “ If they hadn’t 
been my friends and neighbors, 1 would as lief 
have done it as not.” 

“ I don’t uiidawstand you.” 

“ Certainly I ought to be very particular 
whom I introduced to my young lady friends. 
In my humble opinion, every respectable man 
is in honor bound never to introduce to a young 
lady any person, unless he knows that person is 
of good character and entirely respectable.” 

“ Good gwacious ! Do you mean to say that 
I am not a pawson of good chawactaw and en- 
tiawly wespectable ? ” demanded Mr. McGusher, 
with something like an expression of horror on 
his spooney face. 

“ You persist in misunderstanding me. I did 
not say you were not such.” 

“But we waw togethaw faw two or thwee 
days in Bangaw.” 

“ I know that ; but you see I am not so par- 
ticular about myself,” said Monroe, with an 
affectation of earnestness. “ While I don’t intend 
to keep bad company, I am not fanatical in re- 
regard to a chance acquaintance I may meet in 


OCEAN-BORN. 


283 


travelling. Of course I couldn’t inquire into 
your moral character, when I met you at break- 
fast on board of the Cambridge ; or when we 
took a room together at the Bangor House. A 
man may be extremely careful about his friends, 
you know, Mr. McGusher, without thinking it 
necessary to require a certificate of good moral 
character from every person with whom he may 
chance to pass the time of day in a railroad car, 
or at a public hotel. I have seen something 
of the world, Mr. McGusher ; and if I happen to 
make the acquaintance of an uiiAvorthy person 
under such circumstances, why, I could stand it. 
I really don’t think it would seriously affect my 
reputation — do you ? ” 

“Do you apply those wemarks to me, saw?” 

“But it is quite a different thing with young 
ladies, you are aware.” 

“Do you apply those wemawks to me, Mr. 
Monroe ? ” demanded the long-lost. 

“ What remarks ? ” 

“ Do you mean to insinuate that I am not a 
pawson of good mowal chawactaw ? ” 

“ Certainly not ! You persist in misunderstand- 
ing me. My dear fellow, I don’t know anything 


284 


OCEAN-BORN. 


at all about your character. I only said, if you 
were a person of bad character, that my chance 
acquaintance with you would not affect my repu- 
tation. You might be a gambler, a blackleg, a 
swindler, a thief ; and I could treat 3'ou civilly, 
even courteously, at a hotel, without compro- 
mising my own character. That’s all I said. 
But when you ask me to introduce you to the 
daughters of my friends and neighbors, you can 
see for yourself that it is quite a different 
thing.” 

“Do you insinuate — ” 

“My dear fellow, I don’t insinuate. I speak 
right out just what I mean. For aught I know, 
I may have eonversed for hours in a hotel, a 
railroad car, or a steamboat, with a burglar or 
a blackleg. I may even have gone out to ride 
with a thief ; but I don’t reproach myself for it, 
and don’t think I am damaged by it so long 
as I didn’t know who and what my chance ac- 
quaintance was. But I feel my responsibility 
when I introduce any gentleman to a young 
lady. Why, if you remember, I didn’t even ask 
you where you got that five-hundred dollar bill 
I changed for you.” 

“ No, 3mu didn’t,” groaned Mr. McGuoher. 


OC7AN-BORN. 


285 


Mr. Monroe was the most ungrateful of friends, 
and the long-lost went to his rooms to consider 
the situation. It was not pleasant to think that 
he had been snubbed by almost every one he 
met. Even Monroe, whom he had treated like a 
prince, upon whom he had poured out money 
like water, gave him the cold shoulder. Every- 
body conspired to keep him out of the presence 
of the young ladies. With all the eight hun- 
dred dollars in his pocket, with his steamer at 
the wharf, and his elegant parlor at the hotel 
he almost realized that he was a nobody — not 
quite, for it was quite impossible for him to 
;ose his self-esteem. After a while, he brightened 
up. It was only a passing cloud that obscured 
his sky ; all would yet be well, and he should 
yet shine the brightest of the bright. 

“There was a sound of revelry” below, that 
evening, for the clubs had a grand hop in the 
hall. The music was like a funeral knell to Mr. 
McGusher, for the door of paradise was closed 
against him-. The young ladies were whirling 
in the mazy dance, but he could not whirl them. 
At eleven the festivities were finished, and the 
officers and crew of the Oceaji-Born returned to 
the steamer. 


286 


OCEAN-BORN. 


CHAPTER XV. 

CAPTAIN BILDER’s VISITOR. 

W HILE the young ladies of the Dorcas 
Club were sleeping soundly in their 
rooms at the hotel at Fort Point, and the crews 
of the Ocean-Born and the yachts were sleeping 
soundly on board the several craft at anchor, 
the steamer from Boston made her stop at the 
wharf in BeKast. Among the passengers who 
landed there was a well-dressed lady, not a sty- 
lish person, but one who would have passed for 
the wife of a well-to-do farmer, whose ideas 
were rather above the homespun order. She 
might have been forty-five, or she might have 
been older; but this is a delicate question to 
settle. She called a carriage, and was driven to 
the principal hotel. She took a room, and after 
breakfast she seated herseli in tne parlor, and 
sent for the clerk. 


OCEAN-BORN. 287 

“ Is there a young man by the name of Mc- 
G usher at this house ? ” asked the lady. 

No, madam ; he is not here at present,” re- 
plied the clerk. 

“Not here ! ” exclaimed the guest. 

“ Not now ; he was here for a day or so, but 
he left a week ago.” 

“ Do j^ou know where he is now ? ” 

“I think he has gone up the river with a 
party which left yesterday morning.” 

“ Then he lias not been staying at this ho- 
tel ? ” added the lady, apparently somewhat sur- 
prised. 

“ He was here a day, or part of a day ; I don’t 
remember how long,” answered the clerk. 

“ Do you know where he went when he left 
the hotel?” 

“ To a private house.” 

“ Whose house ? ” 

“ He said he was invited to the residence of 
Captain Bilder to stay a week or two ; and I 
suppose he went there.” 

“ Captain Bilder’s ! ” exclaimed the lady. 

“ Yes, ma’am ; and I heard of his being with 
the boat clubs on some of their excursions ; but 


288 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


I don’t know anything more about him,” added 
the clerk, moving towards the door, as if he had 
already practised too much condescension in an- 
swering so many questions. 

The lady was musing over the information she 
had obtained, and she said nothing more for a 
few moments. The clerk left the parlor, but he 
returned immediately. 

“ I beg your pardon, madam, but I believe 
you did not register your name,” said he. 

“ You can enter* my name upon the register,” 
replied the guest in an absent manner. 

“ I will, if you will be kind enough to tell 
me what it is.” 

“ Mrs. Banford, New York,” she replied. 

“ Mrs. Banford, New York,” added the clerk, 
bowing and retreating. 

“ Stop a moment, if you please,” interposed 
the guest. ‘‘ Does Captain Bilder live where he 
did a dozen years ago ? ” 

“ I believe so, Mrs. Banford, though I really 
don’t know where he lived a dozen years ago. 
I can tell you where he lives now, though I 
heard he was going to move out of his house.” 

“Going to move? Does he intend to leave 
Belfast ? ” asked the lady. 


OOEAN-BOKN. 


289 


“ I’m sure I don’t know where he is going. 
Do you know the captain? ” 

“ I used to know him years ago ; but T haven’t 
seen him for at least ten years.” 

“ Then perhaps you haven’t heard that things 
have been going wrong with him,” added the 
clerk, who was astonishingly garrulous for a 
hotel clerk dealing with a stranger. 

“ Indeed ! What do you mean ? ” asked Mrs. 
Banford, with deep interest. 

“ I don’t know about it, but it is all over the 
city that he has lost his property, speculating in 
New York.” 

“ Lost his property ! ” gasped the lady, greatly 
startled at this information. 

“ That’s what they say ; and what everybody 
says must be true. He isn’t worth a dollar 
now, and must move out of his fine house, sell 
his horses and carriages, and go to work again. 
It’s a hard case ; but it’s just what happens to 
the best of men.” 

“ Not worth a dollar ? ” repeated Mrs. Ban- 
ford, to whom this seemed to be disastrous in- 
telligence. 

“ I don’t know anything about it myself ; I 


290 


OCEAN-BORN. 


only tell you what is town talk,” replied the 
clerk, apparently unwilling to bear any of the 
responsibility of the captain’s financial disaster. 

Mrs. Banford dropped into a rocking-chair, 
and, whether from sympathy or other motives, 
she seemed to labor under some great anxiety, 
evidently caused by Captain Bilder’s misfor- 
tune. As she said nothing more, the clerk re- 
tired, and wrote her name on the register at the 
office. 

“Lost all his property! Not worth a dollar! ” 
muttered Mrs. Banford to herself, as, much ex- 
cited, she tilted back and forth in the rocking- 
chair. 

She sat there half an hour, curvetting, like a 
race horse, in the chair. The news she had re- 
ceived doutless deranged some plan she had 
formed, and which had occasioned her visit to 
Belfast. Then she got up, and nervously walked 
the room. 

“Not worth a dollar ! Why didn’t the fool 
tell me this in his letter?” she muttered, im- 
patiently. 

But she did not indicate who the “ fool ” was; 
and after she had taken a day’s wear out of 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


291 


the parlor carpet, she went to the office, and 
asked for a carriage. It was at the door, and 
getting in, she told the driver to take her to 
Captain Bilder’s bouse. In five minutes she 
reached her destination ; but her excitement and 
nervousness seemed to increase all the time. 
The driver rang the bell ; and having ascertained 
that the slrp-master was at home, Mrs. Banford 
entered the house. 

“ I suppose you don’t know me now. Captain 
Bilder,” said the lady, as the captain presented 
himself before her. 

“ Mrs. Banford ! ” exclaimed the ship-master, 
promptly recognizing her as soon as she spoke. 
“ Is it possible ! ” 

“ I didn’t think you would know me,” replied 
Mrs. Banford, taking the captain’s offered hand. 
“ It’s almost ten years since I left Belfast.” 

“ All of that. Where have you been all 
these years? I believe you were going to Ore- 
gon when you left.” 

“ I did go there ; but I didn’t stay long. I 
have been living with — with a friend of mine, 
in the State of New York, for several years. 
But how is Miss Kate ? ” 


292 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


“ Very well, indeed, I thank you. She has 
grown up into a great girl, and you wouldn’t 
know her.” 

“ I suppose not,” she added, rather coldly. 

She is very strong and healthy ; and more 
than these, she is as good a girl as ever lived,” 
added the captain, warmly. 

“ She always was a good girl when I took 
care of her.” 

“ She is just as good as she ever was. She 
has gone on an excursion up to Bangor with 
the boat club. You don’t seem to have grown 
much older since you left Belfast. I suppose 
everything has gone well with you.” 

“Yes, very well, indeed.” 

“I’m happy to hear it. I am very glad, in- 
deed, to see you again. I was thinking the 
other day, that I wished to see you very much 
indeed.” 

“Well, I’m sure I’m just as glad to see 
you,” added Mrs. Banford ; but even Captain 
Bilder could observe that there was not much 
heart in her words. “ I hope everything has 
gone well with you sir.” 

“ No ; I’m sorry to say, things have gone all 


OCEAN-BORN. 


293 


wrong with me of late. In a word, I’ve lost 
all my property, and I’m not worth a single 
dollar that I can call my own.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that ; ” and there could 
be no doubt that she was sorry, if not from 
sympathy, then for some other motive. 

Captain Bilder recited his misfortunes at some 
length ; but he was by this time reconciled to 
his hard lot, and did not bewail it. 

“ I’m sure I’m sorry for you,” said Mrs. Ban- 
ford, when the story was finished. “ Did 
anything ever come of that letter you received 
just before I went away?” 

She asked this question with an assumed in- 
difference, and her eyes wandered about the 
room as she did so. “ I suppose you remem- 
ber that letter. It had a piece of card in it.” 

“ O, yes; I remember all about it,” replied 
Captain Bilder, who, however, did not seem to 
be very communicative on the subject. 

The ship-master had given a great deal of 
thought to that letter, and to the one which 
had been delivered to him by Mr. Arthur Mc- 
Gusher. Whatever the object of the one or 
the other of the writers of these letters, it was 


294 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


evident to him that each of them was quite fa- 
miliar with his past history, and with his busi- 
ness affairs. He had endeavored to connect 
them with some one he had known in former 
years. Mrs. Banford had been in his mind 
more than once, as almost the only person who 
had knowledge enough of the incidents of his 
career to write those letters ; or, rather, the last 
one ; for the first had come while she was still 
his housekeeper. But then he had believed for 
years that she was in Oregon, where it would 
have been hardly possible for her to manage 
such an enterprise as that in which Mr. Mc- 
Gusher was engaged. Now it appeared that 
]\Irs. Banford had been in Oregon only a short 
time, and for several years had resided in the 
State of New York. He was disposed to ask 
if she lived in Goshen, or to suggest that she 
did ; but he was a prudent man, and did not 
care to commit himself. 

“ I suppose no one ever brought the other 
pieces of the card,” added Mrs. Banford. “ It 
looked like a ridiculous piece of business, in the 
first place, to me.” 

“Well, it didn’t to me,” replied Captain Bil- 


OOEAN-BORN. 


295 


der. “ I’ll tell you why. If my boy was really 
stolen from the steamer on the Mississippi, and 
not drowned as I believe he was, the person that 
did it might have intended to restore him to me 
some time or other.” 

“ Why didn’t he do it, then? ” demanded Mrs. 
Banford, “ and not fool with those bits of 
card?” 

“ There may have been good reasons why the 
person did not restore the boy. In the first 
place, it is a penal offence to kidnap a ehild ; 
and he may have been afraid of the consequen- 
ces.” 

“ That may be,” added the late housekeeper, 
as if partially convinced. 

“ Then if anybody stole the child, it must 
have been in order to make some money out 
of me ; and the person may be waiting for a 
good chance to open negotiations with me.” 

‘‘Do you think any one would wait ten or a 
dozen years ? ” 

“ It may be ; I don’t know.” 

“ That’s all nonsense. Captain Bilder,” pro- 
tested Mrs. Banford. “ If the one that stole the 
child intended to make any money by the job, 


296 


OCEAN-BORN. 


he would have commenced operations long 
before this time.” 

“ I think you are right.” 

“ If anybody stole the child, he is sorry for it, 
and wants to restore him to you.” 

“ I have hoped this might be the case.” 

“ Then you have had no letter since that first 
one?” said Mrs. Banford, rather sharply. 

“ I did not say so,” replied Captain Bilder, 
with a smile. But speaking of letters reminds 
me that we have one for you.” 

“A letter for me?” 

A letter for you ; and the strange part of it 
is, that this letter came about ten 3^ears ago — 
a short time after you left, I think.” 

“ That is very strange. Whom is it from ? ” 
asked Mrs. Banford. 

“ Of course I don’t know : I didn’t open it. 
I kept hoping that we should hear from you. 
You went to Oregon from here, and I had not 
your address. It was stuck into the looking- 
glass frame in one of the spare chambers. Kate 
wanted to send it to the dead letter office in 
Washington, that it might be opened, and 
returned to the person who wrote it ; but I told 


OCEAN-BORN. 


297 


her to let it remain where it was, so that it 
might not be forgotten. I expected to hear from 
you some time. Of course I shouldn’t have kept 
it if I had supposed it would be ten years before 
I heard from you If you will excuse me for 
a moment, I will get the letter.” 

She was very willing to excuse the captain, 
for she evidently knew what the letter contained, 
or what it ought to contain, whether Mr. Mc- 
Gusher knew or not when he opened it. In a 
moment the captain returned with the letter, and 
gave it to Mrs. Banford. She read the address ; 
then she turned it over and looked at the back. 
The envelope was a white one ; or, rather, it 
had been white in its day, but was now musty 
and discolored with age. She could not help 
seeing that the flap of the envelope was daubed 
and dirty where it was sealed ; that it had been 
vigorously pressed, rubbed, and marked with 
Anger nails. With a nervous hand, she tore the 
letter open. She was satisfied that the seal had 
been tampered with ; the daubs and dirt had 
already convinced her on this point. She took 
the sheet of paper from the envelope, and 
unfolded it. Before she thought of reading it, 


298 


OCEAN- BORN. 


she opened the sheet, turned it over and over, 
and then looked in her lap and on the floor, to 
ascertain whether anything had dropped from it. 
Finding nothing, she looked into the em^elope, 
hut it was entirely empty. 

“ What are you looking for, Mrs. Ban ford ? ” 
asked Captain Bilder, who theught the actions 
of his former housekeeper were rather extraordi- 
nary. 

“ I Avas looking to see if there was anything 
in the letter,” replied Mrs. Banford, fixing her 
eye-glasses on her nose, and proceeding to read 
the letter. 

It was very short, as we have had occasion 
to remark before, and was quickly read. Mrs. 
Banford opened the sheet again, turned it over, 
and looked into the envelope once more. She 
seemed to be very much disturbed, and even 
more nervous and excitable than before. Finally, 
she fixed her gaze upon the back of the envelope, 
soiled by the dirty, perspiring fingers of Mr. 
McGusher. 

“ Captain Bilder,” said Mrs. Banford, with 
her lips pursed up, and with an expression of 
the utmost severity, which rather amused the 


/■ — ■ 



o 

o 

o 

tf) 

P— I 








u: 

u: 


cr. 

< 



Un 

H 






H 





rs^ 

hM 




< 

o 
















rv »> 



.iV 




* . 



'i<vrr. ? 



j 7 ^ 


•.^sk- 




■* ^ 


4k: 


A ♦., 


I 


. > 


• It 


•f 


^cv 


* . j* w •• 


^ f 

^ -y . %;» j- 





I 



OCEAN-BORN. 299 

captain, who, of course, had no idea of the dif- 
liculty under which his visitor was laboring. 

“You were about to say something, Mrs. 
Banford,” replied the ship-master, after he had 
waited a moment for her to proceed. 

“ I was. Captain Bilder ! ” answered she, with- 
added sternness. “ This letter has been opened ! ' ’ 

“ I see it has ; in fact, it is open now.” 

“But it had been opened before you gave it 
to me ! ” snapped the lady. 

“If it had been, I was not aware of the fact,” 
replied the captain, who did not seem to be 
much alarmed at the impKed charge. 

“ It has been opened in this house !” 

“How do you know?” 

“ It came here by mail, and it must have been 
opened here.” 

“ I think not. I am confident it could not have 
been opened here, Mrs. Banford. Certainly I 
did not open it ; and I am just as sure that 
Kate did not.” 

“ I don’t know who opened it ; but it has 
been opened,” persisted the visitor. 

“ Impossible, I should say. I was looking at 
the letter a few weeks ago, when I happened 


300 


OCEAN-BORN. 


to be in the room where it was. I am sure 
it had not been opened then; and I have not 
seen it since.” 

“Captain Bilder!” 

“Well, Mrs. Banford?” 

“ This letter contained a thousand dollars in 
money ! ” added she, with all the severity t he 
could crowd into the expression. 

“A thousand dollars ! ” exclaimed the captain. 
“And it has been in the frame of the looking- 
glass for ten years. A thousand dollars? That’s 
rather a large story.” 

“ There was a thousand dollars in it. Captain 
Bilder ; but now the money is gone ! Who 
opened that letter ? It was done in your house,” 
added Mrs. Banford. 

“ Do you mean to tell me there was a thou- 
sand dollars in that letter, which has lain in 
my house for the tenth part of a century?” 
demanded Captain Bilder, with energy. “ I 
can’t believe it. Why, if that had been the 
case, the — ” 

“ Read the letter then ! ” said the lady, al- 
most in a fury, as she handed the document to 
her former employer. 

If she had not been excited and angry when 


OCEAN-BORN. 


301 


she did this, she would doubtless have consid- 
jered the consequences of what she was doing. 
Captain Bilder eagerly grasped the letter, and 
proceeded to read its contents before his visitor 
could reconsider her action. It was as follows : — 

“ Mrs. Banford : Enclosed I send you one 
thousand dollars in this letter. If you are not 
still liveing with Captain Bilder, let me know 
whare you are liveing. Yours, truely.” 

This was all the letter contained ; but the 
.penmanship immediately attracted the attention 
of the captain. The spelling also challenged 
his observation ; but both the writing and spell- 
ing were the same as in the letter in which 
the middle piece of the card was enclosed. 
The writer was a woman ; and whoever she was, 
she persisted in retaining the final e in words 
ending in ing. The writing too, was like that 
on the pieces of card. He was positive in re- 
gard to the penmanship, and he was satisfied 
that Mrs. Banford was, or had been, in commu- 
nication with the person who wrote the card 
and the first letter. 

“ Are you satisfied. Captain Bilder ? ” asked 
the visitor. 


3C2 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ The writer of this letter certainly sa3^s she 
sends you a thousand dollars in it,” replied the 
captain. 

‘"Well, sir, isn’t that enough?” demanded 
Mrs. Banford. 

“ Would anybody send you so large a sum 
without signing her name to the letter ? ” 

“ I suppose she forgot to put her name to 

it.” 

“ That may be ; but if she received no reply 
to her letter, she would be likely to inquire in- 
to the matter.” 

“ She did inquire into it.” 

“ Ah, she did ! She informed you that she 
had sent a letter to you containing a thousand 
dollars, in my care. If 3’^ou knew the letter 
had been sent, nine or ten years ago, why didn’t 
you write to me about it? ” 

“ I did write to 3'ou ; but I suppose my letter 
was lost.” 

“ By the way, Mrs. Banford, who sent you 
this letter, with the money in it ? ” asked Cap- 
tain Bilder, quietly. 

“ My sister, in Philadelphia.” 

“What is her name?” 

“ Emily Gilpath.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


803 


“ Where does she live in Philadelphia ? ” 

“ At No. 1298 North Thirteenth Street.” 

“ Thank you. I am glad to know where I 
may find her, for the person who wrote the 
letter in your hand, enclosing the thousand 
dollars, is the one who wrote the anonymous 
letter containing the card.” 

Mrs. Banford drew a long breath, and • real- 
ized that she had made at least one bad blunder 
in allowing Captain Bilder to read her letter. 

“ I don’t know anything about that,” she re- 
plied, when she had in some measure recovered 
her self-possession. “ I don’t care anything 
about it, either ; ” and perhaps she did not, 
since Captain Bilder had lost all his property. 
“All I want is my money — the two five-hun- 
dred dollar bills that were in that letter. 
That’s what I came here for ; and I must have 
it.” 

“ The two five-hundred dollar bills ! Then 
you kn-)w what the bills were?” suggested 
Captain Bilder. 

“ Of course I do. Didn’t my sister tell me 
what they were ? You must have opened that 
letter; at any rate, it was done in your house, 
and you are responsible for the money. Look 


804 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


at that envelope ! Don’t you see it has been 
opened ? ” 

“ I am confident now that it has been opened. 
A young man by the name of Arthur Mc- 
Gusher slept in that room one night.” 

“You needn’t lay it to him, or to any of 
your company.” 

“ Then you know Mr. McGusher.” 

“No, I don’t.” 

“ Of course I should not charge it upon him 
simply because he slept in the room. But I 
happen to know that he changed a five hun- 
dred dollar bill in Bangor the other day, though 
he told me he had not money enough to pay 
for a week’s board at the hotel. I think the 
bill can be had, for the cashier of the bank in 
Bangor, suspecting that all was not right, 
agreed to keep it.” 

Mrs. Banford dropped into her chair, from 
which she had risen in the excitement of the 
moment. She was evidently overcome. She 
said she was sick, and would see the captain 
again. She left the house, and taking her car- 
riage at the door, returned to the hotel. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


305 


CHAPTER XVI. 

MR. MCGUSHER IN TROUBLE. 

T he members of the clubs did not “ turn 
out ” very early on the morning after the 
revels at the hotel. Neil Brandon was one of 
the last to show himself on board of the Ocean - 
Born. He had sat in his solitary state-room till 
long after midnight, thinking of the discovery 
he had made that day. Neil Brandon, the mate 
of the Coriolanus, had stolen the child from its 
parents on the Mississippi River. It did not 
help the matter at all that Arthur McGusher 
claimed to be this child. He could readily have 
believed there was some other Neil Brandon 
than his father in the world, if his mother had 
not been so anxious that he should avoid the 
Bilders. The New York swell might be the 
long-lost son of Captain Bilder, for all he knew 
or cared ; but he was troubled about his dead 
father’s connection with the business. 


30o 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Before he went to sleep, Neil had almost made 
up his mind to run back to Belfast, the next 
morning, in the steamer, and confront Captain 
Bilder, who doubtless would be able to satisfy 
his curiosity ; but this would be violating his 
mother’s expressed wish. He hoped Madam 
Brandon would go to Bangor, as she threatened 
to do, for it did not seem to him that he could 
wait till his return to Philadelphia, at the end 
of the vacation, for an explanation of the mys- 
tery. He wanted to talk over the subject with 
Berry Owen or Ben Lunder ; but if his dead 
father had done any mean or criminal act in his 
lifetime, his son ought to be the last to bring 
reproach upon his memory by an exposure. 
While he was thinking what he should do about 
it, he went to sleep without reaching a deci- 
sion. 

The party breakfasted at their own hours with 
the other guests of the hotel. At nine o’clock 
most of the young men had been to the table, 
and were now busy in making preparations to 
continue the excursion up the river. It was 
quite late when Mr. McGusher left his princely 
apartments. In the office he heard that the 


OCEAN-BORN. 


307 


clubs Avere to start in a couple of hours, and he 
sent a servant to Captain Post of his steamer, 
to have his craft in order, and ready to follow 
the Ocean-Born. Then he went in to breakfast ; 
and his heart leaped with emotion when he saw 
Kate Bilder and three other members of the 
Dorcas Club at the table, unattended by Cap- 
tain Patterdale, Ben Lunder, or any other of 
the ogres of the party. The girls were chatting 
in the merriest way over the events of the pre- 
ceding evening. 

“Aw, good mawning. Miss Bildaw. I hope 
you are quite well this mawning,” said the long- 
lost, with his usual flourish, as he seated him- 
self at the head of the table, on each side of 
which were two of the young ladies. 

“Quite well, I thank you, Mr. McGusher,” 
replied Kate, cheerfully, when she saw that she 
could not escape without positive rudeness. 

“It’s a delicious mawning,” added Mr. Mc- 
Gusher. 

“ Very pleasant, indeed; but all the yachtmen 
are grumbling because there is no wind,” re- 
plied Kate. 

“ Like myself, you don’t depend upon the 
wind.” 


308 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


“ I think most joung men need wind,” said 
Minnie Darling. 

“ Aw, but my steamaw goes by steam, j^ou 
see,” replied Mr. McGusher, delighted to find 
himself actually in conversation with some of 
the young ladies. 

“ Does she, indeed ! ” exclaimed Minnie ; and 
the other girls laughed. “ What a funny steam- 
boat she must be ! ” 

“Well, I suppose she is,” chuckled the long- 
lost ; “ but she don’t want no wind, you see. 
She goes wight along, whethaw thaw is any 
wind or not.” 

“ She is a very remarkable steamboat,” added 
Minnie. 

“But the yachts cannot go up the river, if 
there is no wind,” suggested Kate. 

“ Captain Brandon says he will tow them up,” 
added Nellie Patterdale. 

“ And I will tow the Dawcas Club,” said Mr. 
McGusher. “ My steamaw is at yaw sawvice.” 

“ We intend to row every inch of the way to 
Bangor,” replied Kate. 

“Wow all the way to Bangaw I ” exclaimed 
the gallant New Yorker. “That would be 


OCEAN-BORN. 


309 


hawwible ! Those beauteous awms would be 
bwoken ! 

“ Mine will stand it, I know,” said Kate. 
‘‘We are going as far as Bucksport to-day; and 
all of us are invited to dine on board of the 
Ocean-Born.” 

“ The Ocean-Born ! ” ejaculated Mr. McGusher, 
who evidently believed the dinner was only a 
subterfuge to keep him out in the cold, though 
the ladies were not to blame for it. 

The long-lost was happy for half an hour, and 
during that time he uttered a great many inani- 
ties, which pleased the gay girls not a little. 
They were very willing to laugh at him, though 
they were vexed when he intruded his society 
upon them at the table. For their own amuse- 
ment, though perhaps against their better judg- 
ment, they rather encouraged him. When 
they rose from the table, Mr. McGusher strutted 
and flourished more than ever. He gave him- 
self up to bowing and scraping. 

“ I am delighted to have met you, ladies. 
My steamaw will go up the wiver — ” 

“ And you’ll keep us in a quiver,” laughed 
MoUie Longimore. 


310 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“No, I hope not ; hut I trust we shall meet — 

“ Where breezes come so soft and sweet.” 

“Just so; that’s the place!” chuckled Mr. 
McGusher. “ Where come so soft and sweet the 
breezes — ” 

“ Sighing though the pine-wood treeses,” added 
Mollie. 

“ Thanks, ladies ! I’ll be there. My steamaw 
shall float — ” 

“Like a canary bird’s' note — ” 

“Yes; like a canawy bawd’s note. Weally, 
ladies, you aw poets,” ogled the long-lost. “ I 
used to wite poetwy once. I’m vewy fond of 
poetwy.” 

“ Then you shall write us some, Mr. Mc- 
Gusher,” said Mollie. Young ladies are always 
fond of poetry.” 

“ But I twust I shall see more of you. My 
steamaw shall float at the side of the fleet.” Mr. 
McGusher paused, for the last word would rhyme 
with ‘ sweet,’ and he hoped Mollie would supply 
another line ; but she did not. 

“ My steamaw shall float at the side of the fleet. 

As I gaze at the wowcrs so faiaw and sweet. 


Eh? How is that for a couplet?” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


311 


“ Splendid, Mr. McGuslier. Do give us some 
more,” replied Mollie. 

I will wite a long poem as we sail up the 
wiver. I will dedicate it to the ladies of the 
Dawcas Club, and have it pwinted in the Ban- 
gaw papaws when we awive,” gushed the long- 
lost, who thought some of these young ladies 
must be desperately in love with him by this 
time. 

But we must get ready to start, girls,” said 
Mollie Longimore, who was the leader of the 
Dorcas. 

“ You will pawmit me to see you again, I 
twust,” added Mr. McGusher. 

“ We shall be delighted to see you again,” 
replied Minnie. By the way, Mr. McGusher, 
did you say your steamer went by steam ? ” 

“ Of cawse it goes by steam. It wouldn’t be 
a steamaw if it didn’t go by steam,” replied the 
long-lost, with a fascinating smile. “ Shall I see 
you on bawd of my steamaw — the Monog warn ^ 
She has a cabin — ” 

“Has she a boiler?” asked Minnie. 

“A boilaw? Of cawse she has a boilaw. 
Whaw would she get haw steam, if she didn’t 
have no boilaw, you see ? ” 


812 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Then I’m afraid I can’t go on board of your 
steamer. I don’t like to go where they have 
boilers: they are apt to explode,” replied Min- 
nie, gravely. 

“ Please to have the boiler taken out of her, 
Mr. McGusher,” pleaded Mollie. “ Only think, 
if it should burst ! ” 

“ It won’t bawst ; I won’t allow it to bawst 
while you are on bawd. But I will see you 
again to-day.” 

“ By-by,” said Mollie. 

Mr. McGusher went up stairs to his elegant 
apartments with his heart all in a flutter. He 
had known all along, if he could only get within 
speaking distance of these young ladies, he 
should be able to make an impression. The 
result proved that he was right. Four of them, 
at least, had smiled upon him. He had been 
asked to write some poetry. Here was his oppor- 
tunity; and he would address it to that pretty 
Mollie Longimore. 

“ I will wite a poem,” said he, stalking across 
his parlor. “I can wite poetwy. I wondaw if 
that Billing Boundaw Ben can wite poetwy. It 
isn’t evewy fellaw that can wite poetwy. Let me 
see : — 


OCEAN-BORN. 


313 


Softly o’er the swelling tide, 

In our boats we sweetly wide. • 

That’s sooted to the occasion. No fellaw can 
beat that, not even Longfellaw. 

Gently woll the spawkling waves — 

W aves — waves ? What wymes with waves ? 
Gwaves. No ; gwaves won’t do for such a jolly 
time. Slaves? 

Gently woll the spawkling waves 
’Neath the humblest of thy slaves, 

In his barge that goes by steam, 

While thine eyes so softly gleam : 

Floating the Penobscot up ; 

Dash not fwom his lips the cup. 

The cup of bliss he fain would quaff : 

Do not at thy suppliant laugh. 

Heaw me, as we float, dear Mollie — 

MoUie, Mollie ! What rhymes with Mollie ? I 
see. 

Heaw me as we float, deaw Mollie : 

Banish all my melanc^o/y. 

Give me but one loving smile, 

And, though wataws swell and bile, . 

Naught on awtli will Awthur feaw, 

With the smiling MoUie neaw. 

Not SO bad ! I will finish it on bawd of my 
steamaw, when I have the inspiwation of haw 
b wight eyes to help me.” 

Doubtless it was better to postpone the poem, 
as the hour for sailing was at hand. Thus far 


314 


OCEAN-BORN. 


the poem was a success, in his opinion ; and he 
re-wrote it with ink before he packed his valise. 
He went down to the office, paid his bill, and 
directed the porter to carry his baggage down 
to the wharf. 

All the members of the clubs were at the 
landing. The Ocean-Born had come up to the 
pier for the managing agent and the surgeon. 
There was hardly a breath of wind, and it was 
plain that the yachts could make no headway 
going up the river against the tide, which would 
not turn for three hours. 

“It is no use to start in this sort of a hurri- 
cane,” said Sam Rodman, of the Maud. “We 
shall only drift into the shoal water and get 
aground, or go down the river when we want to 
go up.” 

“ Of course we can’t do anything without wind,” 
added Frank Norwood, of the Alice. 

“ Why should you howl, jolly yachtman ? ” 
demanded Ben Lunder. “ Yonder comes the 
mighty commander of the Ocean-Born. Hear 
what he will say.” 

“I will tow the yachts up the river,” said 
Neil Brandon. “ That’s what I’m here for.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


315 


“You can’t tow the six yachts against this 
ebb tide,” replied Commodore Montague. 

“We can do it with two reefs in the fore- 
royal smoke-stack,” shouted Ben. 

“ I think we can take along all the yachts, 
commodore ; though I don’t know how strong 
the current is.” 

“ It runs pretty swift through Bucksport 
Narrows.” 

“ I know I can keep the yachts from drifting 
down stream, at least ; and I hope to make three 
or four knots.” 

“ I beg yaw pawdon,” said Mr. McGusher, 
edging his way into the centre of the crowd. 

“ Ah, my jolly maintopman !” cried Ben. 
“Now cast off your foreto-bowline, swing too on 
your bob-scuttles, lighten up your after-davits, 
and sail in !” 

“ I didn’t addwess myself to you, saw,” said 
Mr. McGusher, with a withering sneer on his 
intellectual face. “ I wish to see the commo- 
daw.” 

“ I’m not the commo-daw, I’m the jack-daw.” 

“ I beg yaw pawdon, commodaw,” continued 
the charter party of the Monogwam. “ I beg 


316 


OCEAN-. JlilT. 


leave to offaw the sawvicefi of my steamaw, to 
tow the yachts up the wivaw.’^ 

“ I thank you, sir ; but we have already se- 
cured the Ocean-Born for that purpose,” replied 
Commodore Montague, rather coldly. 

“ But I hawd th*e Captain of the Ocean-Bawn 
say the tide was too strong to tow all the 
yachts. The Monogwar* shall tow pawt of them.” 

“Thank you; but 1 think we shall not require 
her.” 

“We can tow your six yachts,''’ added Neil. 

“ ’ Vast heavin’ ! Of course we can ! ” cried 
Ben. “ If we can’t, we’ll splice the topsail- 
boom, and take two half-hitches in the main 
brace ! If we can’t. I’ll take a line ashore, and 
drag them up to Bangor.” 

“ Who’s that coming ? ’■* said Ned Patterdale, 
as two gentlemen were seen in a grove ap- 
proaching the wharf. 

“ One of them is your father, Kate,” added 
Minnie Darling. “ Perhaps he has come to 
take you away. But you mustn’t go.” 

“Who’s that with him?” asked Kate. 

“ It’s Mr. Beardsley,” said Ned. 

“ Deputy Sheriff Beardsley ! ” added Sam Rod- 


OCEAN-BORN. 317 

man. “ I wonder if he has come after any of 
us!” 

“ I should be vewy happy to have you accept 
the sawvices of my steamaw,” continued Mr. 
McGusher. “ The captain of my steamaw, says 
she can tow all the yachts, and not stwain haw- 
self. The young ladies wish me to join the 
pawty ; and I will do all I can to make the 
excawsion agweeable. I will twy to be agwee- 
able myself.” 

“ Right ! That’s a good fellow,” said Mr. 
Beardsley, tapping him on the shoulder. “ You 
are my prisoner ! ” 

“Yaw pwisonaw ! ” exclaimed Mr. McGusher. 

Captain Bilder had paused on the outside of 
the crowd, where Kate had met him. 

“ That’s what I said,” added the deputy 
sheriff. 

“ Yaw pwisonaw ! Do you mean to insult 
me?” 

“ If arresting you is insulting you, that’s 
just what I mean to do.” 

“ A west me ! ” 

“ That’s the idea.” 

“ But, saw, this is irwegular.’^ 


318 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


“ I think not — perfectly regular. I hope 
you don’t object.” 

“I do object, most pawsitively. I am en- 
gaged with this pawty on an excawsion up the 
wivaw.” 

“We’ll excuse you,” said some one in the 
crowd. 

“ The party will have to excuse you ; and 
I’m glad to hear they are willing to do so,” 
said the officer. 

“ Thaw’s some mistake.” 

“ I think not.” 

“Why should you awest me? I am not a 
cwiminal. I’m a gentleman — fwom New Ycwk.” 

“ Can’t help it. I must arrest you.” 

“Do you know who I am, saw?” demanded 
Mr. McGusher, as he threw back his head, and 
gave the .officer a crushing sneer. 

“ Well, my warrant says you are Arthur Mc- 
Gusher, now or formerly of New York City.” 

“ No, saw ; I am the only son of Captain Bil- 
daw, of Belfast.” 

“ Are you, indeed ! He does not seem to be 
aware of the fact.” 

“ Yes, he is.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


319 


“ Nonsense, you young monkey ! If you ever 
say that again, I’ll pitch you into the river,” 
interposed the ship-master, coming to the mid- 
dle of the ring “ I can stand anything but to 
be accused of being the father of such an ape 
as you are.” 

“ Good gwacious. Captain Bildaw ! Didn’t I 
bwing you the piece of cawd ? ” 

“ You did.” 

“And didn’t I tell you a stwaight stowy?” 

“ Very straight,” laughed Captain Bilder. 

“You wote to yaw fwiend Bawden Gween ? ” 

“No, I didn’t. But I got an answer to the 
letter I did not write, which surprised me not 
a little.” 

“ You did not wite to Bawden Gween ! ” 
gasped Mr. McGusher. 

“ I did not ; at least, I did not write to him 
anything about you. I sent my letter to the 
firm in New York. Borden Green does not live 
in Goshen.” 

“You have played a contemptible twick upon 
me. Captain Bildaw. I did not expect this 
from my long-lost fawther.” 

“ He won’t own you,” said Mr. Beardsley. 
“Are you ready to go with me?” 


320 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


“ No, saw, I’m not weady.” 

“Very well; then I shall have to put the 
twisters on you ; ” and the deputy-sheriff pro- 
duced a pair of handcuffs. 

“ I won’t ! Nevaw ! They peawce my soul ! ” 
gi'oaned the swell. “ Tell me that this is a 
pwactical joke, got up by my fwiend, Mr. Lun- 
daw.” 

“ Shiver my booms and bobstays ! ” cried Ben ; 
“ don’t call me your friend I Anything but 
that. Don’t libel an old salt.” 

“On what chawge am I to be awested?” 
asked the New Yorker, more mildly. 

“ On the charge of opening a letter and steal- 
ing therefrom a thousand dollars, in two five- 
hundred dollar bills,” replied Mr. Beardsley. 

‘It will be my duty to hand you over to the 
€^nited States officers.” 

“ It is false ! What lettaw ? ” asked McGusher, 
whose face was very pale. 

“You know all about it better than I do. 
Have you any money about you ? ” 

“ Of cawse I have. Do you expect a gentle- 
man to go off on a vacation without money?” 

“ Turn out your pockets. Let’s see what you 
have,” said the matter-of-fact officer. 


OCEAN-BOUN. 


321 


“ Do you mean to sawch me ? ” 

“ That’s the idea.” 

“ Am I to submit to such an indignity ? ” 

“ You are to submit; and I must attend to the 
matter at once, before you make any different 
arrangements.” 

Mr. McGusher was searched in spite of his 
protest. A five-hundred dollar bill, a hundred, 
several fifties, and some smaller bills were found 
ill his wallet ; and Mr. Beardsley was cruel 
enougli to take possession of the whole amount. 

“ It’s a vewy hawd case,” said the culprit, as 
he wiped away the tears which his misfortunes 
had brought to his eyes — he called them mis- 
fortunes. 

“ I am ready to return to Belfast, Mr. Mc- 
Gusher,” added the sheriff. “If you have any 
orders to give in regard to your steamer, now 
is your time.” 

“We will wetawn in haw, if you please.” 

“All right: I don’t object.” 

Before they could go on board of her, a buggy, 
containing a lady and gentleman, descended the 
slope to the wharf. 

“ What have you done. Captain Bilder ? ” 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


09 ■) 

-I 

asked Mrs. Banford, for she was the lady in the 
buggy. 

“ I have caused Arthur McGusher to be ar- 
rested for opening that letter,” replied the ship- 
master. 

“You needn’t have troubled yourself,” replied 
the lady. “ The letter was addressed to me, not 
to you.” 

“ I am aware of that. But when you charge 
me with opening it, I think I shall be able to 
produce the one who did open it.” 

“ Good gwacious ! ” groaned Mr. McGusher, 
as he recognized the voice of Mrs. Banford, 
“ whaw did she come fwom?” 

“ If you have taken him up, I command you 
to let him go ! ” said Mrs. Banford, in a tone 
suited to the words she uttered. 

“I think not. He opened the letter and took 
out the money,” answered the deputy sheriff. 
“ I shall be able to produce one of the bills, 
which I found upon him, and the other is at a 
bank in Bangor.” 

“No matter for that, sir. The letter was ad- 
dressed to me, and the money was mine,” added 
the lady, fiercely. 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


323 


“Did you authorize him to open the letter?” 
asked the officer. 

“ I did,” replied she ; but probably she did 
not speak the truth. 

“ Then, if you testify that you did at his trial, 
I dare say he will be acquitted.” 

“You know this young man, it seems, Mrs. 
Banford,” said Captain Bilder. 

“I do.” 

“ And you sent him here to assert his claim 
that he is my son?” 

“No, sir; I did not.” 

“But you did. You wrote the letter which 
he brought to me,” added Captain Bilder, some- 
what excited. 

“ I haven’t another word to say about it,” 
answered Mrs. Banford, with assumed dignity. 

“But don’t let him awest me, mothaw,” pleaded 
Mr. McGusher, whose spirit seemed to be en- 
tirely broken. 

“Mother!” exclaimed the captain, rather 
startled by this involuntary confession. 

“He is not my son,” said Mrs. Banford: “I 
am his father’s wife.” 

“ That indeed. I think I begin to see through 


324 


OCEAN-BORN. 


this business. I understand it better than I did. 
You managed this little scheme,” continued Cap- 
tain Bilder. 

“ He is not your son. That’s enough for now. 
He may as well have one beggar for his father 
as another,” added Mrs. Banford, bitterly. 

“ Mr. Beardsley, I must ask you to keep an 
eye on this lady. I shall enter a complaint 
against her for conspiracy,” said the ship-master. 

“Conspiracy against a beggar !” sneered Mrs. 
Banford, who was evidently a strong-minded 
woman. 

She was permitted to go on board of the 
Monogram with Mr. McGusher, in charge of 
the officer; and she immediately departed for 
Belfast. The poem was never delivered to Mollie 
Longimore. 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


325 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. 

T he arrest of Mr. McGusher produced a 
great sensation among the members of the 
clubs, for though he was an unmitigated swell, 
no one supposed he was a rascal, or knew enough 
to be a rogue. Some of the tender-hearted girls 
even pitied him, when he was arrested and ex- 
posed. No one was more interested in the pro- 
ceedings than Neil Brandon, and after the Mon- 
ogram had departed with the prisoner and his 
discomfited step-mother, he was not quite willing 
to go on board of the Ocean-Born while Captain 
Bilder remained on shore. The ship-master had 
brought Mr. Beardsley over with his own team, 
and intended to drive back in the course of 
the day. 

“ Berry, will you pick up those yachts, and 
get ready to tow them up?” asked Neil of his 


326 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


mate. “I am not quite prepared to go on board 
yet.” 

“ Certainly I will,” replied Berry Owen. 

“ Take one on each side, and the other four 
astern, in pairs,” added Neil. 

I wish you would go up the river, father,” 
t'-aid Kate, while they were waiting on the river. 

I must return to the city, and attend to Mr. 
McGusher’s case. Perhaps I will go up as far 
as Bucksport, and return in the steamer.” 

“ I wish you would,” added Neil. “We will 
make you comfortable on board the Ocean-Born.” 

Captain Bilder accepted the invitation. Kate 
took her place in the Lily, and in a few mo- 
meats the five boats of the Dorcas Club were 
pulling steadily up the river. Neil and his new 
guest went on board of the Ocean-Born in a 
shore boat before she had arranged her tow, for 
as there was not a breath of wind, the yachts 
were utterly helpless, and the steamer had to pick 
them up one at a time. 

“ Mr. McGusher seems to have come to grief,” 
said Neil, when they had reached the deck of 
the Ocean-Born. 

“He is a simpleton,” replied Captain Bilder ; 


OCEAN-BORN. 327 

“ but I am satisfied that he is not a rascal of his 
own volition.” 

“ I don’t think he knows enough to be a great 
villain,” added Neil. 

“ And the choice of him as an agent is not 
very creditable to his principals.” 

“ I don’t quite understand the matter. Who 
is the woman that talked so loud and was so 
positive ? ” 

“ Mrs. Banford ; she was formerly my house- 
keeper, and as such she obtained a very full 
knowledge of all my business and family affairs.” 

“ Won’t you walk into my room. Captain 
Bilder ?” continued Neil, who seemed to forget 
that he was not now avoiding the Bilders, as 
his mother desired. 

In a few minutes, Neil and his guest were 
seated in front of the desk in the captain’s 
room. The young man was nervous and ill at 
ease. Perhaps he felt that he was prying into 
a forbidden subject. 

“You seem to be quite sure that Mr. Mc- 
Gusher is a fraud,” said he, when they were 
seated. 

“ I have been satisfied of that from the be- 


328 


OCEAN-BORN. 


ginning,” replied Captain Bilder. “ I know that 
iny son had not his eyes or his nose.” 

“ Then you had a son ? ” 

“ I had, but 1 am reasonably sure that he was 
drowned in the Mississippi River when a small 
child ; ” and the ship-master briefly related the 
incident of the disappearance of the child. 

“ After all, it is possible that the child was 
stolen,” said Neil. 

“ Barely possible ; if any one stole the little 
one, it could only be in order to get a large 
sum of money out of me. As no one has put in 
any claim, except this young fellow, I am afraid 
there is nothing to hope for.” 

“ McGuslier showed me the letter he carried 
to you,” continued the young captain. 

“ Did he, indeed ? ” 

“ That letter says the child was stolen by 
Neil Brandon.” 

“Yes; he was the mate of my ship; but I 
don’t think he was vile enough to do such a 
deed. 

“ What became of him ? ” asked Neil, deeply 
interested. 

‘T don’t know ; I never saw him after I dis- 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


329 


charged him at Hong Kong, though I heard he 
was in New York, when my ship arrived. I 
never ascertained what became of him. I don’t 
know that I felt interest enough in him to in- 
quire. Do you think he was a relative of 
yours ? ” 

“ I have no idea, sir. It seems very strange 
that his name and mine should be the same.” 

“That was what startled me when I first 
went on board of your steamer. What do you 
know about your father. Captain Brandon ? ” 

“Not much ; he died when I was quite 
young. I only know that he was a rich man, 
who made his fortune by the rise of land in 
Philadelphia. He went to sea when he was a 
young man.” 

“ There is something about this McGusher 
affair which perplexes me beyond measure,” 
said Captain Bilder, thoughtfully. “ I fully 
understand that Mrs. Banford fitted out her 
step-son for his mission in Belfast ; but I do 
not understand where she obtained the pieces of 
card which were relied upon to carry her 
point.” 

“ What were those ? ” asked Neil. 


! 


330 OCEAN-BORN. 

“ Somo ten years ago I received a letter, with 
no signature, informing me that my son was not 
dead, and that some time he might come to me, 
claiming to be my son. The letter contained 
one of three pieces of a card, on which were 
six lines of writing. My son, if he came to 
me, v/as to bring the left hand piece, Avhile the 
middle one was sent to me. This was before 
Mrs. Banford left my employ, and the writing 
was not hers. I talked with her about the 
matter. Now, ten years after, her step-son ap- 
pears with the left hand piece of card. The 
third piece, I was informed in the letter, was 
deposited with Borden Green & Co., New York. 
The other day I wrote to this firm, who had 
formerly been my bankers. This morning’s 
mail brought me the third piece of card, which 
exactly corresponds with the other two. I 
have them with me,” said Captain Bilder, tak- 
ing an envelope from his pocket. 

On the desk he arranged the three pieces of 
card, the right hand piece of which had just 
reached him. The part fitted the middle piece 
perfectly, and it w’as evident that they had all 
been cut from one and the same card. The 


OCEAN-BORN. 


331 


pieces had come from three different sources, 
and the card must have been divided - more 
than ten years before, when Mrs. Banford 
was still the housekeeper of the ship-master. 



“I should call that very good evidence in- 
deed,” said Neil. 

“ So should I, if the young fellow had not 
been so different from my son,” replied Captain 
Bilder. “ The original card was written upon 
by the person who penned the first letter to 
me, whoever that may have been. It was a 
woman, but her identity is a mystery to me.” 

“ Perhaps it was Mrs. Banford,” suggested 
Neil. 


332 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ No ; I am quite sure it is not she. The 
writing was not hers ; and the spelling was not 
hers. You heard what McGusher was arrested 
for?” 

“For breaking open a letter.” 

“ And taking two five-hundred dollar bills 
from it. Well, I read that letter. It had 
been in my house nearly ten years. The hand- 
writing and the spelling were the same as that 
of the first letter which had come to me. The 
address on it was not in the same hand.” 

“ Then the person who wrote the card and the 
letter, telling you your son might come to you, 
was a correspondent of Mrs. Banford,” said 
Neil. 

“ That is proved to my satisfaction, and be- 
fore I have done with the woman and her son, 
I shall know who her correspondent is,” added 
Captain Bilder, very decidedly. “ I have lost 
all my property, it is true ; and perhaps this 
fact has modified the action of the woman.” 

“May I look at that card?” asked Neil, 
glancing at the pieces which still lay matched 
together on the desk. 

“ Certainly,” replied Captain Bilder. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


333 


Neil bent over the desk, and read the card. 

“‘Marguerite Brandon, nSe Lardier’!” ex- 
claimed he. 

“ Do you know any such person?” asked the 
ship-master. 

Neil was not willing to answer the question. 
He was much agitated, and seemed to feel that 
he had betrayed the confidence reposed in him 
by his mother. 

“ Oscar Blake Bilder,” he continued, reading 
the last line of the re-united piece of card. 
“ Who was he ? ” 

“He was my son — the little boy that was 
lost. I am sure that Mrs. Banford could not 
have known all the facts stated on that card,” 
added Captain Bilder. “ For instance, Larclier 
was Marguerite’s maiden name. We never 
called her anything but Marguerite. This in- 
formation did "^ot come from her. There is 
another person concerned in the conspiracy ; 
and this other person sent the money to Mrs. 
Banford. However, I shall get at the whole 
truth before I have done with the matter. You 
seemed to be a little startled when you read the 
name of Marguerite. Can you explain this 
business ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


S^4 

“ I cannot, sir. Who was Marguerite ? ” re- 
plied Neil. 

“ She was the nurse employed to take care 
of my children. She was with us in the China 
sea, and made several voyages with me. If 
this card is to be relied upon, she became the 
wife of Neil Brandon.” 

“ Then Neil Brandon was a bad man,” added 
the young captain, musing. 

‘‘ I don’t say that, and I don’t believe it.” 

“ Then you don’t believe he stole your child?” 

“ I do not. Neil Brandon was not a bad 
man while he was with me. He was the best 
mate I ever had, and always did well till Mar- 
guerite eame on board with the children. He 
was very fond of her, and negleeted his duty 
to talk and flirt with her. I was afraid I 
should lose my ship, or my children, by the neg- 
lect and carelessness of the mate and the 
nurse, and I discharged him. He was angry, 
and threatened to be revenged upon me for 
sending him off; but I took this as only a 
burst of passion, and thought nothing more 
about it.” 

“ Have you the letter which contained the 
money McGusher stole ? ” asked Neil. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


335 


He was completely bewildered by the facts 
which had been forced upon his understanding. 
Though he could not explain the business, as 
he had told Captain Bilder, he recognized 
the writing on the card as that of Madam 
Brandon, his mother. Her maiden name he 
knew was Lardier. 

“ I have not the letter ; it is the property of 
Mrs. Banford, and I had no authority to retain 
it ; but I have asked Mr. Beardsley to get it 
for me,” replied the ship-master. 

“ Do you know the handwriting? ” asked Neil, 
nervously. 

“ I do, very well indeed.” 

“Is that it?” inquired Neil, as he took from 
the desk the long letter from his mother, wherein 
he had been requested to avoid the Bilders. 

Captain Bilder put on his glasses and exam- 
ined the writing very attentively. 

“It is the same hand precisely, though this 
letter is written more rapidly than the card or 
Mrs. Banford’s letter,” replied the ship-master, 
somewhat excited himself by this time. “ The 
style of spelling is the same. ‘ Living ’ is spelled 
with an e, and ‘ where ’ is whare. I have mo 


336 


OCEAN-BORN. 


doubt this letter was written by the one who 
wrote the card, and the money letter which has 
been in my house ten years.” 

“ I am entirely satisfied on that point,” added 
Neil, now trembling with emotion. 

“Who wrote this letter?” demanded Cap- 
tain Bilder. 

“Have you read it, sir?” 

“ Only a line here and there.” 

“ Read it, if you please.” 

“But who wrote it?” 

“ My mother,” replied Neil, in a sad and sub- 
dued tone. 

“Your mother!” exclaimed the ship-master, 
springing out of his chair in his excitement. 

“Yes, sir; my mother.” 

“ Can it be that your mother is engaged in 
this — this conspiracy ! ” 

“ It would appear that she is ; but I know 
nothing about it,” added Neil, and it seemed to 
him that a crime was about to be fastened upon 
his mother. 

“ But didn’t you say that your father was a 
wealthy man?” 

“ I did, sir ; he was worth hiilf a million, be- 
sides the house in which he lived.” 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


837 


“And what became of his property?” asked 
Captain Bilder. 

“ He left it all to my mother,” replied Neil. 

“ None to you ? ” 

“ No, sir ; but by my mother’s will, which she 
says she has made, 1 am the sole heir,” 

“ Certainly your mother, worth half a million 
of dollars, could not have engaged in any con- 
spiracy,” said the ship-master. 

“ I don’t believe she did. I don’t understand 
it,” pleaded Neil. 

“ I must see your mother ! I must know 
whether she was the nurse of my children on 
board the Coriolanus ! ” exclaimed Captain Bil- 
der. “She wrote that card, and she must have 
given the left hand piece of it to Mrs. Banford. 
But I can’t see why she should engage in such 
a piece of trickery.” 

“ Nor I, sir. Will you read her letter? While 
you are doing so, I will go out and see how we 
are getting bn.” 

Neil left the state-room, and Captain Bilder 
gave himself up to the reading of the long epis- 
tle. The Ocean-Born was on her way up the 
river. The Sea Foam was made fast on her 


338 


OCEAN-BORN. 


port and the Skylark on her starboard side. 
Behind her she was dragging the Maud, Phan- 
tom, Alice, and Nellie. She was making a speed 
of about three knots, which was as fast as the 
Dorcas Club, only a few fathoms ahead of her, 
cared to row. Half her yachtmen were on the 
hurricane deck of the steamer, and all hands 
were exceedingly jolly. Neil was sadly troubled, 
and he did not join the festive company. He 
looked into the galley, where Peter Blossom 
was up to his eyes in poultry and roasting 
pieces, and Kaii was washing potatoes, turnips, 
and other vegetables, all for the great dinner 
which was to be given that day to the members 
of the Dorcas Club. The cooks of the several 
yachts were performing similar service on the 
forecastle, and it was evident there would be 
no lack of dinners in the fleet. 

Neil gave some directions to the cook and 
steward, and then walked aft. He wanted to 
believe that his mother had done nothing wrong, 
at least that she had taken no guilty part in the 
conspiracy against Captain Bilder. The ship- 
master did not believe his former mate had 
stolen the child, and, of course, the son had no 


OCEAN-BORN. 


339 


reason to think his dead father had done so 
cruel a deed. He had never heard a word about 
Mrs. Banford before, and he could not fathom 
his mother’s relations to her. It was all a mud- 
dle, and he could make nothing of it. He re- 
turned to his state-room before Captain Bilder 
had finished the reading of the letter. 

“ Your mother wishes you to avoid me and 
my daughter,” said the ship-master, as he fin- 
ished the letter. 

“ Yes, sir ; that was what I particularly wished 
you to see,” replied Neil. 

“ Well, that is perfectly consistent with what 
we already know. She seems to have assisted 
Mrs. Banford in her attempt to impose McGusher 
upon me.” 

“ I can’t see why she should do it.” 

“Nor I. Then she had paid her a thousand 
dollars in one sum, and as the letter containing 
the money was permitted to remain unclaimed 
for ten years in my house, it was hardly prob- 
able this was all your mother paid her.” 

“Perhaps not; I don’t know,” replied Neil, 
blankly. “I can’t see why my mother should 
pay her any money.” 


340 


OCEAN-BOBN. 


“It is not likely that she would have done so, 
unless Mrs. Banford had some strong claim upon 
her. From the carelessness with which the busi- 
ness was done, I should judge that it was hush- 
money she paid. ” 

“ Perhaps it was. But, Captain Bilder, my 
mother is a good woman. She always goes to 
church three times a day, and she gives thou- 
sands of dollars to the poor every year. I never 
knew her to do anything wrong,” pleaded Neil, 
his eyes full of tears. 

“ Some very good people, without any faPuit 
-of their own, have paid money to avoid certain 
consequences. Mrs. Banford evidently has some 
hold upon your mother, and probably extorted 
that piece of card from her, as well as consider- 
able sums of money. I must see your mother. 
Captain Brandon.” 

“You may have an opportunity if you go up 
to Bangor with us.” 

“Do you think she will go there?” 

“I do ; it would be just like her. You can 
judge from her letter how nervous she is about 
this business.” 

“Well, we will talk no more about it now. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


341 


I must leave you at Bucksport to return to 
Belfast by the steamer, for I am obliged to attend 
to the case of Mrs. Banford, or rather Mrs. Mc- 
Gusher, for that appears to be her name now. 
But I think I shall go up to Bangor in the boat 
to-morrow morning.” 

“ I hope I shall see you there, for I shall not 
be satisfied till this mystery is solved,” replied 
Neil. 

“ After what I have learned from you, I may 
make some progress with Mrs. McGusher in 
getting at the truth.” 

The conference was ended for the present, and 
Neil joined his friends on the hurricane deck, 
struggling to banish from his thoughts the mys- 
tery of the hour. He tried to believe that his 
mother had done no wrong which she had paid 
large sums of money to conceal; and he was 
not willing to believe that his dead father had 
ever known anything about the lost child of his 
guest. 

The Dorcas Club rowed abreast, in single line, 
in couples, and in all manner of figures that 
could be formed with the five boats. Men, 
women, and children on the shores observed the 


342 


OCEAN- BOKN. 


club with interest, and the crews of the lumber 
vessels anchored all the way up, waiting for a 
breeze, cheered the young ladies. Steamers whist- 
led complimentary salutations, to all of which the 
fair rowists responded by tossing their oars, and the 
Ocean-Born whistled in reply. The girls rested 
half an hour in the Narrows, but they fell astern 
and made fast to the yachts, to prevent the swift 
current from carrying them down the river. Ben 
Lunder made salt speeches to them, and when 
they started again, he was a passenger in the 
Lily. He kept the girls laughing so that they 
could hardly preserve their position in the line. 
In fact, there was a young man in every one 
of the boa,ts, and possibly One in the head of 
each of the young ladies. But, everybody was 
happy, and every moment of the excursion was. 
enjoyed. 

At half past one, after a pull of three hours 
and a half, the procession of boats reached 
Bucksport. The Ocean-Born, with the yachts 
still in tow, anchored under the guns of Fort 
Knox, opposite the town. The row-boats ran 
alongside of her, and the gallant yachtmen 
assisted the ladies on board. The boats were 
secured where the tide could not harm thein, and 


OCEAN-BORN. 


343 


all the young men began to be exceedingly 
polite, chatty, and devoted. 

“ Der dinner ist rady ! ” shouted Karl. “ You 
don’t petter vait here dill every dings is colt.” 

“But we can’t all dine in that little cabin,” 
'said Miss President Darling. 

“ All the ladies can,” replied Neil ; “ and all 
the officers and crew of the Ocean-Born shall do 
duty behind their chairs.” 

It was rather a close fit, but all the menibei-s 
of the Dorcas Club were seated at the table in 
the forward cabin. Neil placed himself behind 
the chair of Minnie Darling, at the head ; Ben 
was behind that of Kate Bilder, and others ex- 
pressed their preferences in the same manner, 
though they did not confine their attention to 
the ladies behind whom they had rallied. The 
dinner was one of Mr. Blossom’s best, and the 
members of the Dorcas Club were hungry enough 
to appreciate it. When it was over, the table 
was prepared for another service. The officers 
and crew seated themselves with their guests, 
and then, to their astonishment, the Dorcasites 
took places behind their chairs, at least two to 
each person. It was a jolly time, and the fun 
bubbled up like water from a spring. 


344 


OCEAN-BORN. 


In the afternoon they visited the town, and 
ill the evening danced at the hotel, where rooms 
had been engaged for the Dorcas Club. 

The next morning at eight, the fleet resumed 
its course up the river, the Ocean-Born towing 
the yachts, and the row-boats leading the wa}^ 
The party lunched off Hampden, and reached 
Bangor at two in the afternoon. The excursion- 
ists formed a procession as at Fort Point, and 
marched to the hotel, where the dinner, tendered 
by Dr. Darling, was in readiness for them. 

As soon as he entered the Bangor House, Neil 
went to the ofi&ce and examined the register. 
Among the arrivals was that of “ Mrs. Brandon, 
Phila.” 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


345 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


MADAM BEANDON’s STOEY. 



EIL BRANDON knew his mother well 


JL 1 enough to understand that she would not 
quietly await the issue of the adventure on the 
Penobscot ; that she would not patiently remain 
in her home till another letter reached her. 
When there was a doubt, she insisted upon solv- 
ing it at once. But Neil was glad his mother 
had come ; he was always glad to see her for 
her own sake ; and he was doubly so in this in- 
stance, because his mind was terribly disturbed 
by the events of the last few days. Though 
dinner was all ready, and he was the honored 
guest of the occasion, he felt that the soup 
would poison him if he tasted it before he saw 
his mother. A servant showed him to her 
rooms, and he was promptly admitted. 

“I am very glad to see you mother,” said 


346 


OCEAN-BORN. 


he, as lie kissed her. “ I knew you would 
come, after what you wrote.” 

“Sit down, my boy: I have a great deal to 
say to you,” added Madam Brandon, with her 
arm around his neck, as she led him to a chair. 

“I can’t stay now, mother. I have just ar- 
rived with the clubs, and dinner is waiting for 
us. You must understand that I am a great 
man down here, just now,” laughed Neil. 
“The Ocean-Born’s officers and crew are in 
high feather — ” 

“The clubs?” 

“ I told you about the cruise of the clubs in 
my letter.” 

“ I know you did. Are the Bilders in the 
dubs ? ” 

“ Kate Bilder is ; but I have hardly spoken 
to her since we left Belfast. I think Captain 
Bilder will be up here to-morrow morning.” 

“ Is this the way you do what I asked you, 
Neil? ’’asked Madam Brandon, nervously. 

“I couldn’t help it, mother. The plans for 
the excursion were all made. I couldn’t back 
out,” pleaded Neil. “But come down to din- 
ner with me, mother. The party will be very 
glad indeed to see you.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


347 


“ I have dined, my son ; and I do n(^t wish 
to meet your party. I do not wish your friends 
to know I am here.” 

“But your name is on the hotel register, 
mother.” 

“I did not know that. Go down and dine 
with your party, and come to me as soon as 
you can,” added Madam Brandon, with a very 
troubled expression, which her son could not 
understand. 

“ What’s the matter, mother ? I will go down 
and get excused,” said Neil. 

“ No ; I don’t wish you to do that,” contin- 
ued Madam Brandon, smiling in order to re- 
assure her son, rather than because there was 
any hope in the situation. 

After considerable pressing on the part of his 
mother, Neil went down to the dining-room, 
where the party were already seated. The 
dinner was a remarkably good one, the toasts 
and speeches were remarkably funny, and Ben 
Lunder made a particularly remarkable nauti- 
cal oration. Neil was rather sober and digni- 
fied, though he struggled to forget the burden 
which weighed upon his mind. He sat next to 


348 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Minnie Darling, because she was president of 
the Dorcas Club, and he was the captain of the 
Ocean-Born. He tried to say pretty things to 
her, and perhaps he succeeded to some extent ; 
but he failed to be half as brilliant as he wished 
to be ; and perhaps this is the case with all 
modest 5^oung jnen. He made his usual brief 
and sensible speech, and was vigorously ap- 
plauded. But the enigma of his own relations 
with the Bilders was continually intruding 
itself 'Upon his thoughts. 

After dinner, the party were to visit the 
notables of Bangor, and Neil excused himself 
on the plea that his mother — whose arrival was 
known to all the excursionists — wished to see 
kirn. 

“We will excuse you for one hour. Captain 
Brandon,” said Minnie. “ Then we shall call 
Upon the mayor of the city. You must go 
Ivith us, and your mother too.” 

“ T will endeavor to go,” replied Neil, as he 
hastened to his mother’s apartments. 

“ I have had hard work to get away from 
the party mother,” said he. “I am wanted 
again in an hour, and you are particularly in- 
vited to go with us.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


349 


“ Perhaps I will go,” added Madam Brandon, 
doubtfully. “ Did you say you expected Cap- 
tain Bilder here to-morrow morning, Neil?” 

“ I do expect him. He wishes to see you, 
mother,” replied the son. 

“ He wishes to see me ! ” exclaimed she, 
startled by the announcement. “ What have 
you been doing, Neil ? ” 

“ What have I been doing ? What have you 
been doing, mother?” asked Neil, trying to 
laugh. 

“ Has anything happened since you wrote 
me ? ” she inquired, much agitated. 

“ What’s the matter, mother ? Why are you 
so troubled ? ” demanded Neil. 

“Let me know tl.e worst, Neil,” gasped she, 
sinking into a chair, and covering her face Avith 
her handkercliief. 

“The worst? What can you mean, mother? 
I hope there is nothing Avrong between you and 
the Bilders,” added the young man; and some 
of his half-formed fears seemed to be realized in 
her present conduct and appearance. 

“ Why does Captain Bilder wish to see me, 
Neil?” continued Madam Brandon, recovering 


850 


OCEAN-BORN. 


her self-possession with a tremendous effort. 
“ Tell me everything.” 

“ I will mother.” 

He began with the history of Mr. McGush- 
er’s mission in Belfast, and told the story as we 
have related it. 

‘‘Now, mother, I have seen the letter and 
the piece of card which this fellow brought 
with him to prove his claim,” added Neil. “In 
that letter it says that Neil Brandon stole the 
child from his parents on the Mississippi River.” 

Madam Brandon was as pale as marble, but 
she maintained a tolerable degree of compo- 
sure. 

“ On the card, when these pieces brought 
from three different sources were put together, 
was the name of Marguerite Brandon, nee Tar- 
dier. That was you name, mother,” pursued 
Neil. “ jMore than this, the card was in your 
hand-writing.” 

“ Go on, Neil,” added his mother, when he 
paused to note the effect upon her of these rev- 
elations. 

“ I hoped you would explain this, mother.” 

“I will in due time, Neil. Go on ; let me 
hear the whole story.” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


851 


“ The letter from which McGusher took the 
two five-hundred dollar hills, was also in your 
handwriting, though it was not signed. Mrs. 
Banford — ” 

“ Who ? ” asked Madam Brandon. 

“ Mrs. Banford. She was Captain Bilder’s 
housekeeper years ago ; but she married the 
father of this McGusher, and of course she is 
Mrs. McGusher now.” 

“ Go on, Neil.” 

“ Mrs. Banford opened the letter ; it was 
directed to her. Captain Bilder is satisfied that 
you were in communication with this woman.” 

“• Then you have talked with Captain Bilder 
about the matter,” said Madam Brandon, with 
something like a gasp of despair. 

“ I couldn’t help it, mother. I never was so 
worked up about anything in all my life. I 
don’t like this Mrs. Banford. I think she has 
been playing tricks upon you and Captain Bilder.” 
She has been trying to make it out that this 
step-son of hers is Captain Bilder’s son. But 
both of them have been arrested.” 

“ Arrested ? ” groaned Madam Brandon. 

“ The young fellow has been arrested, and the 


352 


OCEAN-BORN. 


officer has his eye on the woman. He is a fraud, 
and so is she. When she found that Captain 
Bilder had lost all his property, she seems to 
have changed her tune. She didn’t care to 
make out a case then.” 

“What do you mean, Neil?” 

“ Captain Bilder is a poor man to-day, and of 
course she couldn’t get any money out of him,” 
Neil explained. 

“ A poor man ? ” 

“ He says he is not worth a dollar in the 
world; and as other people say so too, I suppose 
there is no doubt about it. He lost all he had 
in speculation.” 

Strange as it may seem, the countenance of 
Madam Brandon brightened up at this intel- 
ligence. She was evidently pleased with the 
information. 

“ Are you very sure about this, Neil ? ” she 
asked. 

“ I think there can be no doubt of it, mother,” 
replied the son. “ He must leave his fine house, 
sell his horses and carriages, and they say he 
must go to sea again to earn his daily bread.” 

“ He was a rich man,” mused the lady. 


OCEAN-BORN. 


353 


“ Then you knew him, mother?” 

“I did — years ago.” 

“ I have heard you say that you had been a 
servant before you were married.” 

“You will not despise me for that, my boy ? ” 

“No, mother, far from it. I honor you because 
you have never pretended to be what you are 
not.” 

“ I have tried for many years to be a good 
woman, Neil,” added Madam Brandon, wiping a 
tear from her pale cheek. 

“And you are a good woman, mother; there 
is none better in the whole world ! ” exclaimed 
Neil, with enthusiasm. 

“ I wish I were,” sighed she. 

“ I wanted to see you, mother, that you might 
tell me there was nothing wrong between you 
and this Mrs. McGusher. I know now that you 
were the nurse ‘n Captain Bilder’s family and that 
you were with him in the Coriolanus. And my 
father was the mate of that ship.” 

“No, he was not, Neil.” 

“Then there was another Neil Brandon?” 
added the young man, hopefully. 

•“ Don’t ask me now, Neil. I will tell you ail 


354 


OCEAN-BORN. 


very soon, said Madam Brandon, struggling 
with her emotions. 

“ I am amazed, mother. There is something 
terrible about this business, I fear.” 

“ There is, Neil,” replied his mother, impres- 
sively. “But, my boy, there is nothing terii- 
ble for you; it is only terrible for me. You will 
be bright and happy ; you will rejoice at the 
change which is to come over you.” 

“ Why, mother, what do you mean ! ” said 
Neil, rising and kneeling on the floor before her. 
“ You know I have loved and honored you as a 
son should ; and never was a son more proud 
of his mother. Everybody that knows you blesses 
you for your kindness, for your goodness, for 
your charities ! ” 

“ Nobody knows me but God, Neil,” groaned 
Madam Brandon. “ He knows me, and he knows 
what a weight I have borne upon my soul for 
all these years. He cannot forgive me, because 
I have not done mj whole duty — because I 
have loved you, Neil, more than I have loved 
God and duty. No matter my boy ; don’t you 
weep because I do. All shall be well with you, 
for you have done no wrong.” 

“ Have you, mother ? ” 


OCEAN-BORN. 


355 


“ I have, Neil ; but I will undo the wrong, 
so far as I can. I am overcome now, Neil. I 
cannot say any more. To-morrow when Captain 
Bilder comes, I will tell you all. You shall be 
happy, how'ever it may be wiih me.” 

“ I can never be happy, if you are not, moth- 
er,” added he. 

“ I shall be happy in undoing the wrong I 
have done, and in seeing you happy, my boy. 
Say no more now. Where are your party going 
this afternoon? ” 

Madam Brandon suddenly cheered up ; her 
French nature seemed to gain the ascendency, 
and in another moment she smiled. She had a 
strong will, and she used it. 

I will go Avith you, Neil,” she added. 

Drive away the clouds, and be as gay as 
your friends. Do not dampen their pleasure by 
any gloominess.” 

‘‘You are going to be cheerful for my sake, 
mother ? ” 

“ I am ; and you must be cheerful for your 
own sake.” 

They went to the parlors, whei e Neil intro- 
duced his mother to all the party. Captain Pat- 
terdale and Dr. Darling were very polite and 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


very attentive to her. The excursionists visited 
the “ lions ” of Bangor, and in the evening there 
was a hop at the hotel. Madam Brandon danced 
with the surgeon and the managing agent, and 
a great many very pretty things were said to 
her about her modest, noble, and gallant son. 
The next morning the party went up to Old- 
town by train, where they passed through some 
of the lumber mills, and visited the Penobscot 
Indians. When they returned. Captain Bilder 
had arrived. Neil met him as he entered the 
parlor with his mother. 

“ Captain Bilder, my mother,” said the young 
man. 

“ I am very glad indeed to meet you, Mrs. 
Brandon,” said the ship-master, as he took the 
lady’s offered hand. 

“ Thank you, sir. I am very glad to see one 
whom I knew in other days,” replied Madam 
Brandon, with abundant suavity. “I suppose 
you do not recognize me.” 

“ I see some of your former looks, though I 
should not have known you if I had met you 
alone.” 

“Now, Captain Bilder, Neil thinks there is a 


OCEAN-BORN, 


357 


little business which needs to be settled, and 
if you please we will attend to it. I have a 
private parlor,” ccn tinned Madam Brandon, with 
no trace of the emotion which had disturbed 
her the day before. 

They went to the private parlor, and Madam 
Brandon opened the subject of the conference 
without any delay. 

“ I am told that Mrs. Banford, or Mrs. Mc- 
Gusher, has paid you a visit. Captain Bilder,” 
jaid she. 

“Yes; but as she evidently came for money, 
she came to the wrong man,” replied the cap- 
tain. 

“ I learn that you have been unfortunate.” 

“ Lost everything ! ” added the ship-master, 
bluntly. “ Neither Mrs. McGusher nor her step- 
son can make anything out of me.” 

“Doubtless you were satisfied that the young 
man was not your son.” 

“ I was very clear on that point from the 
momeiit I first saw him. But I have good evi- 
dence that my former housekeeper has done bet- 
ter with you, so far as money is concerned.” 

“ I have paid her six thousand dollars, one 


358 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


thousand of which I paid twice because the 
letter in which I sent it was lost. You have 
found it, I learn.” 

“Yes, it has been in my house for ten years. 
Perhaps you will object to inform me why you 
paid this woman so much money.” 

“ On the contrary, I shall answer every ques- 
tion you ask. Captain Bilder,” replied Madam 
Brandon, her emotions beginning to get the bet- 
ter of her, though she still struggled to be calm. 
“ I paid the woman for keeping my secret.” 

“What secret?” demanded the ship-master. 

“ The secret of your lost son.” 

“Wasn’t he lost?” demanded Captain Bilder, 
rising from his chair in the excitement of the 
moment. 

“ Be calm. Captain Bilder. I will tell you the 
whole story. Ten years ago, I wrote that card, 
and divided it into three parts, that I might be 
able to do justice to you when the time came. 
I did not know that it would ever come, for, 
though I desired to purge my soul of its sin, I 
had not the courage to do so.” 

“You married my mate — did you not?” 
asked Captain Bilder, impatiently. 




He is youk Son!” cried Madam Brandon. Page 359. 







• . - 


■» 



\ 


t 


— I 




. I 


0 

% 






I 





•r 


s 



4 




% 




I 





• J 



0 ' 


« • 


’ ^ 


« 

« 

• ' 


f 


j 


OCEAN-BORN. 


359 


“ I did. Neil Brandon was my husband.” 

“ And he was my father — was he ?” asked Neil. 

“ No, he was not,” replied Madam Brandon. 

“ He was your husband, and my name is Neil 
Brandon.” 

“ He was not your father.” 

“Who was my father, then?” demanded Neil. 

Madam Brandon rose, with her chest heaving 
violently, and raising her arm quickly, pointed 
at Captain Bilder, who still stood by his chair. 
She looked at Neil, as she continued to point 
at the ship-master in silence. 

“Captain Bilder my father!” exclaimed Neil. 

“ He is.” 

“ My son ? ” gasped Captain Bilder. 

“ He is your son I ” cried Madam Brandon, 
dropping heavily into her chair, sobbing and 
weeping bitterly. 

“ I cannot believe it,” added the ship- master. 

“ It is true,” sobbed Madam Brandon. 

“ Then you are not my mother,” said Neil, 
choking with emotion. 

“I am not, Neil; but no son was ever dearer 
to a mother than you have been to me. I have 
lost you now 1 ” and she wept more than before. 


360 


OCEAN-BORN. 


Captain Bilder walked up to Neil and began 
to scrutinize his features. The nose, the eyes, 
the hair, the general contour of the face, corre- 
sponded to those of the lost child. But the 
story was too strange to be credited. 

“ Then Neil Brandon robbed me of my child ! ” 
exclaimed the captain. 

“ He did ; and I helped him do it. Curse me, 
if you will, for I deserve the worst you can say 
and do,” groaned Madam Brandon. 

“How could he have done it? I searched 
the region for a fortnight.” 

“ The child was not taken from the steamer 
till after you left it. My husband had a room 
on board, on the same side we had ours. I 
carried the child myself into his room. I 
attended to it in the night and in the morning. 
We left the steamer at Baton Rouge ; but my 
husband, with the child, went on it to Bayou 
Sara, where he landed. At this place he bought 
a black woman to take care of the little one.’’ 

“ How could he get ashore with the child 
without being seen ? ” asked the captain. 

“ He told me he followed a couple of women 
ashore, and people thought the child belonged 


OCEAN-BORN. 


361 


to one of them ; at any rate, no one took any 
notice of him. I don’t know how he managed 
it all, but he made his way to some place in 
Texas, where he staid some months. He wrote 
to me, and I met him in New Orleans, where 
we were married. We lived there a year, my 
husband being superintendent of a cotton-press. 
Then we went to Philadelphia, where Neil owned 
a large piece of land, left him by his father. 
This piece of land made him a rich man. It 
brought him over half a million of dollars.” 

“But why did he steal the child?” 

“ For revenge ; because you discharged him 
from his position of mate, and cut off his hope 
of being a captain. I begged him not to do it, 
but I could not turn him from his purpose. He 
said, before he was rich, that the child would 
bring him fifty thousand dollars ; that you would 
pay this sum to have it restored.” 

“I would, and more,” added Captain Bilder. 

“ He said you had ruined his prospects, and 
you should pay for it. But he really loved the 
child, and I am sure I did. Up to the day he 
died, he was not willing to part with it, espe- 
cially as he was rich. I think the influence of 


362 


OCEAN-BORN. 


the child made a new man of him. After he 
was gone, I was as unwilling to part Avith it, 
as he had been. I loved the little fellow as my 
own. We lived in a fine house in Philadelphia, 
with every luxury that money could buy. We 
had no cliildren of our own, and Ave loved Neil 
— as AA^e always called him — as though the child 
had been our oavu. But I was nervous and un- 
easy. I was afraid, and went to Belfast to see 
if you Avere still living. I Avanted to knoAV 
whether you believed the child Avas dead. I 
Avas dressed so different, that I did not think 
Mrs. Bauford Avould recognize me, and Avhen I 
saAV her in the garden of your house I spoke to 
her. She told me all about the child, that it 
had been lost on the river. When she had in- 
formed me in regard to all I Avanted to knoAv, 
she called me by name. She had recognized 
me. She went to the hotel Avith me^ This was 
after I had sent you the letter with the piece 
of the card in it. The letter, the card, and my 
appearance in Belfast betrayed me. She fathomed 
the truth, because I had no faculty for decep- 
tion. 

“ She charged me Avith having the child. I 


OCEAN-BOKN. 


863 


could not deny it. At last I confessed it. I 
offered her five thousand dollars to keep my 
secret, agreeing to pay her a thousand dollars a 
year. I paid her one thousand in Belfast, and 
sent the second payment in the letter which re- 
mained so long in your house. Then she came 
to me in Philadelphia. She was married, she 
said, to a man by the name of McGusher, from 
Baltimore ; and she wanted the rest of the 
money I owed her at once, in order to buy a 
farm in Goshen, New York. I was not willing 
to pay it, but I was in her power, and she 
compelled me to do so. I was unwilling she 
sliould return to Belfast for the letter, fearful that 
it might have been opened, and my secret be- 
trayed ; so I gave her the thousand dollars she 
had lost. In order to prevent her from taking 
advantage of me, I told her about the plan I 
had for restoring the boy to his father. I allowed 
her to look at the piece of card I had retained. 
I could not find it after she had gone, and I 
have no doubt now that she stole it. I was 
afraid of her, and expected to be obliged to pay 
her at least a thousand dollars a year as long 
as she lived. I have told you the whole story. 
Captain Bilder.” 


364 


OCEAN-BORN. 


“ Hasn’t Mrs. McGusher tried to get more 
money out of you ? ” asked the ship-master. 

“ No, sir ; but this step-son was to get a for- 
tune out of you ; and this kept her quiet.” 

“ Perhaps it is lucky that I am a beggar,” 
said the captain, with a languid smile, as ho 
glanced at his son, “Oscar! my Ocean-Born!” 

“ I know my mother speaks only the truth,” 
added Neil. 

“I have spoken it to my own sacrifice,” re- 
plied Madam Brandon, wiping the tears from 
her eyes. “ 1 have lost the best of boys.” 

“ Whatever I am, whoever I am, I shall never 
forget you!” exclaimed Neil, warmly, as he 
grasped both of her hands. “No mother could 
have done more for me than you have.” 

“ He has been brought up in luxury, but I 
have given him a good education.” 

“ In luxury ! ” added Captain Bilder. “ Then 
it will be all the harder for him to step into 
a poor man’s house, such as mine must be.” 

“ No, sir ! If I should die to-day, he would 
be worth half a million. My husband left all 
his wealth to me ; people wondered at it, for 
they did not know why he did so. Captain 


OCEAN-BOEN. 


365 


Bilder, I wish to atone for my own and my 
husband’s sin, so far as I can do so. We have 
grievouly wronged you, and I know that money 
cannot compensate for the loss of the affections 
of such a son as my boy. Yesterday I decided 
what I should do. One half of my fortune shall 
be yours at once ; the other half shall go to 
Neil when I need it no longer. Nay, you must 
accept my gift. I have been almost happy since 
I decided to do this. It must be done.” 

“ One half of your fortune, Madam Br indon, 
is more than I ever had,” said the ship-master. 

“No matter, sir ; it would grieve me if you 
refused to take it.” 

He did not refuse then. 

“You are a noble fellow, Oscar; and I am 
proud of such a son,” said the captain, grasping 
the hand of the “ long-lost.” 

“ You may well be proud of him,” added 
Madam Brandon. “ I cannot have him torn 
entirely from me.” 

She pressed him to her heart, and sobbed. 

“ He shall not be torn from you ; you must 
live in Belfast now, and both of us shall see 
him every day. May I send for Kate ? I wish 
to introduce her to her brother.” 


^66 


OCEAN- BORN. 


Kate was sent for ; the whole story was told 
over again, and she was as proud of her brother 
as her father was of his son. The astounding 
news was told through the excursion party, and 
Oscar and Kate were congratulated by “ all 
hands.” The next day, the clubs sailed for 
home. Madam Brandon and Captain Bilder tak- 
ing passage in the Ocean-Born. They spent a 
day at Fort Point on the return, and this time 
Madam Brandon was the host. She was almost 
as gay as a young girl, ai d the only objection 
Captain Bilder had to her was, that she spelled 
“living” with an e in it. 

On their arrival at Belfast, the captain was 
too happy to trouble Mrs. McGusher and her 
step-son any further. They returned to Goshen, 
to the farm bought with the “hush-money” 
paid by Madam Brandon. Probably Mr. Mc- 
Gusher still figures in the “ mawcantilc ” business. 

The clubs spent three weeks more in the bay, 
making several long excursions. Mrs. Brandon 
was the guest of Captain Bilder, who liad fully 
forgiven the living and the dead for the terri- 
ble wrong done to him. By the middle of 
August, the Ocean-Born started on her return 


OCEAN-BORN. 


367 


to Philadelphia. Madam Brandon, Captain Bil- 
der, and Kate were passengers. One of the 
first things which the lady did when they ar- 
rived at her elegant residence, was to divide 
her stocks, bonds, and treasury notes into two 
equal parts, one of which she passed to Cap- 
tain Bilder. After a great deal of reflection, he 
had concluded to accept the gift. Perhaps he 
felt that it was but a meagre compensation for 
what he had suffered at tlie hands of him who 
had died, leaving this fortune behind him. 

Madam Brandon returned to Belfast with 
Captain Bilder and his children. She could 
not think of being separated from Oscar, as she 
now called him. She leased her house and 
furniture, and for the present was to reside 
with the ship-master, though she talked of pur- 
chasing a house in her new location. But it 
is a fact that she did not do so; and it is also 
a fact that she became Mrs. Bilder in about a 
year after the events we have narrated, so that 
Oscar was again permitted to call her mother. 
Kate did not object, and was almost as fond of 
her new mother as her brother was. 

The only thing that seriously troubled Cap- 


368 


OCEAN-BOKX. 


tain Oscar Blake Bilder, as his name was regis- 
tered on the books of the Belfast Yacht Club, 
was the loss of the Ocean-Born, and she was 
the subject of a long correspondence between 
him and the joint owners of her with him. It 
resulted in the purchase of the three-fourths 
owned by Berry Owen and the Roaches, by Os- 
car. The business was completed about the 
middle of September, and in commempration of 
the former happy cruise, the same officers and 
crew took her to BeKast, returning by rail and 
steamer. 

Now, our story is told, when we have said 
that the Bilder family were “ gushingly ” hap- 
py ; that Ben Lnnder often goes to Belfast, 
and Kate blushes so when he comes, that Os- 
car is in danger of having a brother-in-law in 
the “ Old Salt,” one of these days ; that 
Oscar spends a great many evenings at the 
house of Dr. Darling, and that Minnie even 
allows him to interpolate that hitherto forbidden 
comma, when he speaks her full name ; and 
that often, in summer, our friends of the story, 
take a long cruise in the Ocean -Bohn. 

705 ' 







> 







'' V ^ « A 


« VV \V 

^ t/' 

<P A> 


8 I ^ 

o^ 

4 ^ V^"' ■“ 

V V ^ ^'vaV^OvVV * .S 



O' ^ 

^ .‘\ <lr 

"■ <\^' '% ® H V- 



V‘ Pi '' y1 ^ 





'V ''^. . ^ f ,4 ^ ' 




\- ^ 


\\‘ <J^ tf '■/A'^v 

iV* O U// /^K 


.-.V - 1 ^ 


.' : 'X* - c? .‘ “JL'- ‘ 



tr ft 


' xO 



. 0 -' '■=,'■», To ^ 

''T''/ C ' 



o O' 

6 ^ -tT 

'AV>C-. v ^ 

V>" ^ ^ ^ % " " " " ^ ^ 


,.o 



= oS ■T '* 

« c^ ^ 

^ \V ^ 

^ 4 V X ^ 

\» ’ ‘'A ^ 

r f 5 9 - 



0 ^ x 





o . 

T-T^ ^ . z r/. 

^ * <r ■» V 

<■ *^ ^ » c> o' 

<r Pi ^ i> 

, 0 ^ ' i! ^ 

*s ^ ^ 7 

, 0 ' k''\.^'' 

c,'^"^ ^ ^V> O' 



\ if n 


' 4 r.y// 

A *>^ - u 

X c^ * l-b t-^ ^ ^ 

" ^ ' " ” ■ ^ ^ ' av'"' c ’'^ ^ 

^ £(f^^ ^ •' '^ s'" o' 





